CoastersRZ

Why will you be leaving Ohio? I`m amazed at the amount of people who were classmates of mine in DAAP who could not WAIT to get out of Cincinnati and Ohio. Simply amazes me, because I love Cincinnati and Ohio.

And in case some were wondering about the connection on B&M coasters that the Interpreter was siting, below is a shot of the corkscrew on Vortex down at Carowinds. Notice how the support attaches to the track.

But also what is shocking is that the place didn`t have any kind of first aid staff on property. Definitely seems like lawsuits are waiting to be filed in this one, as someone certainly seems negligent. Hopefully the three that are seriously injured make a quick and full recovery. I also wonder, if the ride shown is in fact the one that had the incident, how kids could be violently thrown from it. It doesn`t seem like the type of ride to produce lateral forces that would want to force people out of the ride. And the other question is, who actually started the ride?

Yes, the infrastructure is not there yet for these new cars. Not to mention that some of them have very restrictive limitations. I mean, the electric Ford Focus can only drive about 80 to 100 miles on one charge. That is not a great deal of miles, considering for me to get from my house to the office down town and back home (round trip), is about 35 miles, I could realistically only get two trips in before needing to recharge the car. And then there is the whole other issue of needing special equipment at home to charge it. And I wouldn`t place all of the blame on just OPEC either. We have oil reserves in this country which could be tapped too. But environmentalists have stopped most of them from being tapped. And yes, the incident with the BP oil rig in the gulf was devastating to the environment. But we should not place the fate of our economy (and yes, gas prices play a big impact on the economy, especially one that is recovering from a big recession), in the hands of foreign countries that control most of our oil supply.

Actually, how closely have you watched the track on the first drop of Diamondback when a train goes down it? It flexes quite a bit when a train plunges down to the ground. Remember the old saying, if it doesn`t shake, it will break. If a steel structure was designed to not flex, it would then be brittle (and steel is inherently a flexible material), and would break under loading conditions. I could pull out some structures terminology from my structures classes (although most of those pertained to designing beams for buildings, we did discuss things like yield strength, elastic and inelastic beams, moment, inertia, etc.) but there is no need to. Eventually, there will be fatigue on the metal, similar to if you bend a paper clip back and forth enough, it will eventually break in two. The question is, what is the length of that time. And keep in mind, that maintenance can prolong the lifespan (or shorten it as the case may be). Wooden coasters are always in a state of perpetual building, and it is less common for whole sections of steel rides to see similar repairs. However, I`m fairly confident that sections of The Vortex track have been replaced over the years. In fact, several years back, there were some new rails sitting by the first drop on The Vortex. They were visible from The Beast, after leaving the station.

Seems like another well written book about a long lost park. Also illustrates yet another example of what a nemesis fires can be to amusement parks. I treasure the Charles Jacques Jr. book on Coney Island because it captures so much of the history of Coney and what it meant to the Cincinnati area in its early years. Few people realize how different the amusement park industry is now compared to the way it used to be. Back in the day, (before Disneyland was around and there were bigger "corporate" parks, there used to be tons of smaller parks. Trolley parks became prevalent as a way for streetcar companies to increase ridership on their routes. Several parks that were once served by trolleys still exist today. Kennywood is a prime example, as are other parks like Dorney, Camden, Lake Compounce, Lakemont Park, and Waldameer. For those who have read the Charles Jacques book on Coney Island, you will notice how Coney`s management would often write to Kennywood`s management describing the latest flood of the Ohio, or the latest reviews of the newest attractions. Right around the time that Walt was planning Disneyland, and after World War II when the baby boomers were being born, many of these original trolley parks were facing troubles. Most trolley lines and street cars were gradually declining use and being abandoned altogether. Almost every city at one point had small amusement parks (even Cincinnati had Chester Park and Coney Island). Then once Disneyland opened, and the big themer parks like the Six Flags, the Taft parks, initially with Kings Island, and other large parks started opening, it pretty much forced out most of the smaller, and in some cases, family run parks. It is truly remarkable that Coney Island, once given up for dead after the shiny new Kings Island opened in 1972 has thrived since that time. And this year it gets to celebrate a milestone that not many parks have reached. Especially the new wave of theme parks that opened in the `60s and through the 70s. This year Coney will celebrate its 125th anniversary. (The official date is June 21). I know that Coney is planning several special events over the course of the summer to commemorate this landmark anniversary. I`ll be sure to let everyone know about more details as I find out about them!

I like your avatar! "You will pay."

Really? $5 a gallon? That is $1.60 more per gallon than the current price of gas. (And my car, with its 18 gallon tank means if I fill up at 15 gallons, that`s an extra $22.50 per fill up. Multiply it by at least two fill ups a month, and that is an additional $45 a month, or $540 a year! Yes, it may not reach $5 this year. But play along for a bit. $540 is a sizeable amount. Just think how many Kings Island passes that could buy. Unfortunately, driving is a fact of life in cities like Cincinnati, where there is not a good public transportation service (outside of Metro). If people have to choose between paying for gas to get to and from work and buying a season pass to Kings Island, guess which one they are going to choose? Not to mention the increased gas prices will have a ripple down affect as it means the cost of transporting goods will rise, which means that almost everything else will increase in price too. How far off are those electric and hydrogen cars? If gas prices do go that high, you will likely see a bigger push for these types of eco friendly cars to go main stream sooner rather than later.

Yes indeed. Because those not familiar, Son of Beast actually has a different track gauge compared to typical wooden coasters. Hence, the trains had to be modified to fir the track.

Yeah. I believe that the trains that ran on Son of Beast came from the now defunct Myrtle Beach Pavilion and ran on Hurricane. (Which was a rather wild ride, and it ran rough back in 2003, and it was only three years old). Granted, I believe that some of the Gerstlauer trains that ran on Villian did make their way to KI (I believe that was reported at some time) at about the same time Son of Beast was reopening. EDIT: It looks like The Interpreter was editing his post when I was typing up my response. He has since rescinded any comment he made about the trains coming from Geauga Lake. Blue B&M at Cedar Point anyone?

Well, you kind of did just one up him, lol. Its not like those trains were anything remarkable to begin with. They were modified Gerstlauer trains. No real loss there. But it sure seems like a bad investment to purchase those trains when they only ran on the ride for a couple of seasons.

I think that this topic has finally ran its course. Time to move on. For those who are still upset, please vent in the proper manners, but please do not create new topics complaining about this. Further topics will only be removed. Topic closed.

Right. I have a feeling it will not be running come April 30th, which means the same thing as the end of last season when it wasn`t operating. Now if parts of the ride are missing (I`m not saying they are), come April 30th, that will also indicate something to. But I doubt we will see any change come opening day.

But how does the ride running or not on April 30th have any impact on the fate of the ride?

What are you talking about? The park opens April 30th. That doesn`t mean we will know anything about Son of Beast on or before that date.

So what were you trying to say? Given the size of the park, and some of the attractions Coney has, it can be a more family friendly atmosphere than KI. It definitely has a different vibe than KI. It has a more laid back atmosphere.

Huh? Too SHORT to ride any of the kiddy rides? The kiddy rides at Coney do not have a minimum height requirement. As long as the kids are able to site up on their own, they can ride.

Actually, Coney is quite good with height requirements compared to KI. There are currently only 4 rides that require you to be 48 to ride (Tempest, Bumper Boats, Round Up and Rock O Planes.) The Tempest requires those between 48 and 52" to ride with an adult. River Runner allows kids between the heights of 40-48" to ride with an adult. The Ferris Wheel and Scream Machine allow kids 36-48" tall to ride with an adult. The Python coaster and Dodgems allow kids 36"-52" to ride with adults. And Flying Bobs, Giant Slide, Trabant, Tilt a Whirl, Pedal boats, Scrambler and Carousel all allow kids under 48" to ride with an adult. Yes, most of the kiddy rides at Coney are restricted to 48" and less (KI restricts them to 54" or less in general). But Coney has a lot of rides with lower height requirements than KI. Compare Coney`s Dodgems to KI`s. You can`t ride the slow mobiles at KI if you are under 48, while you can ride the faster Dodgems at Coney when accompanied by an adult. So I don`t exactly get where you are coming from with these "bad with height restrictions" view point in regards to Coney. Yes, there were complaints over at Sunlite Pool that with the removal of the Zoom Flume, there were no water slides for the younger set to take on (The Cyclone and Pipeline Plunge both have 48" height requirements). But that should be remedied this year with the change in height requirements to the Twister.

Yeah. The first part made sense, and then I got confused by that second part. If they can only give out $20 million in distributions in 2012, why even mention the second part? (It certainly seems like they are trying to appease Q. But if one is a unit holder in Cedar Fair, you have to wonder what they have planned for cash distributions in 2012.

I`m not certain why the sudden change. I do know that back in 2009, Coney lowered the height requirements on two other rides: River Runner and Scream Machine. Scream Machine used to be 48" to ride, but then it was changed to 36" to ride with an adult, 48" without an adult, after new, bigger over the shoulder restraints were added.

From Coney Island`s Facebook page (found here: http://www.facebook.com/coneyislandpark) they are lowering the height requirement on the Twister water slide from 48" to 36". The Twister replaced the Zoom Flume in 2009. The Zoom Flume had a height requirement of 36"

An update from Cedar Fair about restructuring their financing. http://cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm?current_root=15&mode=story&story_id=294

Which means what for Cedar Fair`s bottom line?

And the lease dates to the days of Kings Entertainment Co. I`ll dig more up on it tomorrow. (Need to locate my trusty word file). Although, Great America has lasted quite a while on leased land. I think the writing is on the wall. Especially, with Cedar Fair taking an impairment charge on Great America. And they are shipping out Invertigo to another property. Kind of similar to what they did to Geauga Lake shortly before it closed. So who would get the B&M invert if they decide to relocate that ride?

Ah, but there can be more than one kind of silly band!