CoastersRZ

And if it's like Coney, I'm sure there are some employee events and parties throughout the season. At coney, some of the employee events include softball and basketball tournaments, a bowling party, corn hole and Texas Hold Em tournament, and even a fishing tournament on Lake Como. Most of these events at Coney are free, and they even sometimes provide free pizza and soft drinks! They even sometimes give away prizes. Even though I only work at coney on the weekends, I still like to go to the employee events. And for anyone closer to Coney than Kings Island, there is an online application for jobs at Coney too. You can find that on Coneys website at Coneyislandpark.com. The hiring process at Coney won't likely begin until early April. The first weekend the rides are open is likelythefirst weekend in May this year. The pay isn't that great but I really enjoy working there. Great little park and generally great guests. I'll be entering my tenth season working at Coney. And even though I only work there on weekends, I still enjoy working there. And of course this yar is Coney's 125th anniversary!

But many rides have been removed with a posted final operating date, months or weeks before their removal. Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg comes immediately to mind for happening recently. But the same thing has happened at Kings Island. Antique Cars and the Flying Eagles all were announced as leaving to make way for Backlot Stunt Coaster, so people could grab final rides on them before they were removed. Even Phantom Theater had a posted closing date, so it could be transformed from the very unique and fun dark ride and made over by Sally to a shooting dark ride that is all the craze.

That is the ride that opened in 1988. And it opened on the site of where the Screamin Deamon was located.

Yes you were. I miss the days of seeing characters acting spontaneously with kids. I remember getting chased around Hanna Barbera Land in the mid to late 90`s by one of the costumed characters. He was literally jogging after us! Nowadays, I realize that probably wasn`t the safest thing for him to be doing from an operations and safety standpoint, but it made for a great memory!

Don`t forget that trailer that they sometimes sell stuff out of by the Zephyr and Racer, right before crossing under the X-Base sign. CedarPointer, I love your signature. Unfortunately, at Coney when there are big concerts, its not uncommon for people that are a little inebriated to try and go to the bathroom behind trees and shrubs on their way from the parking lots to Riverbend Music Center for concerts. I`ve witnessed this numerous times, and seen people caught by security numerous times. Is it really that hard to find a restroom?

You are correct. We are not supposed to lift people out of wheel chairs at Coney to assist them on or off of the ride. Technically, the most we can do is offer them a hand (I`ve done this numerous times at the Ferris Wheel, for people who have a hard time walking up steps, whether it be because of age, a cast, or other ailment). Is that you Kevin? And I agree with you. If this guy knew about this problem, which can be triggered by stress, why was he riding in the first place. There are warning signs at every attraction, and I`m fairly confident that most of them recommend that guests with prior medical conditions that may be aggravated by the ride, refrain from riding.

The thing is, in the video, he didn`t seem to be freaking out that much. Its not like they were stuck in the sun and he was dehydrating. While his condition may be very real, I still find it odd that he is just now filing this. I think that there should have been cast members with him the entire time of the breakdown. Isn`t that standard procedure at KI that ride operators will go and talk with guests when a ride goes down, only leaving when they are trying to re-start the ride? Since he was in a wheel chair, it is hard to evacuate him safely from the ride when the boats are not in the station. So, had they tried to evacuate him from the ride, and he fallen or gotten hurt, would he have sued Disney then? I believe he would have. Most things that predate the ADA are grandfathered in. There is also the term 'normal use' which applies here. The boats, as I understand it, have been retrofitted to allow wheel chairs to be rolled right onto the boat. Under normal use, there is no need to disembark anywhere other than in the station. Disney has obviously taken great strides to make its attractions enjoyable by guests of all sizes and even those with disabilities. (How many rides at KI can guests roll their wheel chair onto?) Most of these changes originated, in some form from the ADA. There is actually a new set of ADA design guidelines that will be phased into building construction (with some changes made to restrooms and clearances) with buildings taking occupancy by March of 2012 I believe. Existing buildings only have to be brought into compliance if they are undergoing renovations. And with the new ADA design guidelines, some things that used to be considered accessible, may not longer meet the new criteria. On the subject of rides being accessible, there are a few things which glaringly pose issues with ADA in regards to amusement parks and rides. Stand up coasters anyone? Or what about all the Round Up rides? (I actually have seen a guy in a wheel chair at Coney park his chair outside Round Up, and proceed to ride the ride. And then there are rides like the Giant Slide at Coney which utilize stairs to get to the top, but no elevator is provided. Or how many water slides have you seen that feature both a set of stairs and an elevator to take disabled guests to the top? I can`t think of very many water slides which are accessible...

Well what would the markets do to the unit price if Cedar Fair ignored these requests? And don`t many of executives who work for Cedar Fair Management, Inc. hold units in the LP? Ie, if the price of the units were to tumble, wouldn`t that negatively affect their pocketbooks? It will be interesting to hear what Cedar Fair says at the conference call on Tuesday and if they mention any of their dealings with Q.

The question I have is, why had Q chosen not to talk directly with Cedar Fair? What is their true aim here? While I think some of the changes they have sparked have been good (ie, not selling the company at $11.50 a unit), I think some of their motives may not lie with the true best interests of the long term future of the company.

I just hope its not like The Beast plaza that opens up facing a large wooden fence and gate. Hopefully, they rework Vortex`s exit with the photo booth, as that could be a potential bottleneck. Only time will tell what will happen. The first pieces of WindSeeker should begin showing up at KI soon, as the park has said they would begin arriving in the middle of February.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/02/08/quadriplegic-disneyland-not-ready-to-help-disabled-in-emergencies/

Are you referring to the fact that it was signed by Cedar Fair Management Inc, the general partner, or the fact that the CEO did not sign it, but rather the CFO? I find it a little odd that the CFO would be signing such things and not the CEO. I`m sure there is a reason behind Crage signing it though...

Well, Flight of Fear at Kings Island has three trains with the lap bars. Only two are ever on the track operating at any time. The reason is, the third one under goes its complete tear down during the summer months. That way, when winter rolls around (the busy time of year for the rides mechanics), they only have to completely inspect one Flight of Fear train, since the other train was already done. Not exactly the same thing, but kind of in the same manner. And no, The Beast never ran with four trains. Originally, the trains were four rows of seats per car. Now, the trend is one row of seats per car, so that the trains can better handle the tight turns (aka, the twisted and very enjoyable incarnations that Great Coasters International has crafted.

There are structural engineers for a reason. They design the foundations to match the soil conditions at the site. Yes, some things may settle a little bit after built, especially if they are built on shallow spread footings. But most coasters` foundations go deeper into the ground if not to bedrock. And some places, like in Pigeon Forge, they do not have to dig very far to get down to bedrock! But it is amazing how quickly and widely popular some of these sinking rumors turn out to be with the general public!

So if Cedar Fair doesn`t ask for covenant relief, they could save $11 million in interest expense annually? That`s a pretty significant sum, although it pales in comparison to their overall loan amount of $1.175 billion. I`m sure they are under pressure from Q to raise the cash distribution some. It will be interesting to see when we hear anything more about this meeting that is slated to take place on Friday. Remember, Cedar Fair is having a conference call on Tuesday. And, Cedar Fair units today closed up 59 cents to $19.03. Its been a long time since they traded above $19. Now if only it can make its way back into the mid to high 20s, where it was back in 2007-2008.

Sadly, that was the one ride I did NOT do when I was at Universal in December.

Very true. And I know some people that don`t even go by their first name. Rather, they go by their middle name. In fact, one of my best friends goes by his middle name and not his first name. Someone in my office also goes by his middle name as opposed to his first name.

If that is there slogan for this year, i will always be reminded of Budweiser when ever I hear it.

And then my business cards at work would be printed incorrectly! And actually my legal name isn`t Robbie either. its Robert. And I am a II. So talk about confusing around my house!

Huh? Ronnie? Are you talking to me? My name certainly isn't Ronny! No offense taken though.

I believe it was taken outside the front gate, but before the handicapped parking area. You can clearly make out the old ticket booths, and those white lights that appear to be floating in the center of the image are lights from ontop of the International Restaurant/front gate.

Not to mention, it takes a considerable time commitment to delete posts. Just because they aren`t deleting posts about a ride does not indicate anything about the fate of Son of Beast. I am pretty active here on KIC, and I know for a fact that I can`t read every single post that is made on here. I just don`t have enough time. And some topics do not interest me as much as other topics. But I know that when something offensive or over the line is posted I will hear about it! This is a large enough community, that people will report stuff that is of questionable content. When someone hits the report button and then submits a report, myself and the other site administrators are sent an email notifying us of the questionable content. Just chill out on all your hopes on Son of Beast information by trying to construe what comments the park has said to indicate something about Son of Beast. I`m sure when the park is ready to comment on any updates with regards to Son of Beast, you will know it, because they will likely come out and say what there plans are when the time arises that they need to do so.

That is just the foundation pier cap. I`d venture to say that the actual ride pad, or loading area, will be a little bit bigger than that area. Probably about 1.5 times as big (it will likely extend towards The Racer a little bit more than that current run of concrete. If I had to guess, I`d say that the operator booth, (and likely the extends of the loading pad, will be about where those two orange cones are. One of those cones is sitting on a pipe. That pipe likely contain conduit that will be run to the conduit pipe that are located in the center of the foundation area. Once vertical construction starts in mid-March, we might get a better idea too. Keep in mind that we are likely about a week or two out from the first pieces arriving on site at KI. The pieces are expected to arrive in mid-February, with vertical construction slated for early March. Depending on weather, the ride may only take a week or two to actually erect the steel for the ride.

The mother kept apologizing to me profusely. I just said, it comes with the territory, and expressed my concern for her daughter, and hoping she felt better. As soon as they were off the ride, my first priority was getting myself cleaned up. Believe it or not, I have only been puked on one time at Coney, and it was that incident this year. I generally do not have a problem cleaning up the protein spills. It is more the odor that often get to me, especially on really hot and humid days. I`d venture to say that I probably have cleaned up more than 100 spills in my nine years (so far) of working at Coney. Fortunately, I have never had to clean up a code brown. Or as the GWL refers to them, AFR. Believe it or not, one ride at Coney has had two of those! The most recent time occurring this past October. Fortunately, I was the manager, and didn`t have to clean that one up!

I don`t doubt you, but where does it say that that ride was manufactured in Ohio?