CoastersRZ

It will be interesting to see how the new Texas Giant is perceived. Since it is now a coaster like Adventure Express. A steel coaster with a wooden support structure. Personally, I`d rather not see Son of Beast suffer that fate. Why? Because as a steel coaster, the layout as is, would be rather boring. I`d much rather see a B&M inverted coaster, or a dive machine. But that is just me.

That is immediately what I thought when I saw that too! People can hope, can`t they?

While were at it, through my name into the name of the restaurant, lol. I actually remember drinking RC when I was younger. Do they still sell it in stores around here?

I forgot that Italian Job had unique uniforms for its first season. i believe that they were black button up shirts with a yellow vertical stripe running down one side of the shirts.

And let's not forget that back in the day, Kings Island had uniforms for individual rides and area. Remember the flight suits worn by the Top Gun crew? Or how about the military uniforms worn by the Flight of Fear crew. In my opinion, little thing like that make a big difference in overall atmosphere turning in a park. Ride specific uniforms can be a challenge operations wise though. What happens if Flight oFear was short people and had to pull peoe from another rude? They would not gave the specialized uniform. The same holds true if Flight of Fear is over staffed and they sent some if their crew to other rides that were understaffed. But of course, back in the day, most parks had a wardrobe department. They even used to wash all the uniforms!

Nice trip report Dave. How would you compare Tatsu to Manta at Sea World Orlando? I fell in love with Manta when I was at Sea World in December. I really wish that KI had a flying coaster like that compared to a Vekoma Dutchman.

I wasn`t trying to criticize you HTCO, just offering friendly words of advice. (Advice that could be well served, as had someone told me to check all my spelling, I could have very well landed a different co-op job). Yes, you are still a youngin`. And at least you are prepared to learn and take on new ambitions like building a website. I know how life can get busy. Just wait until after you are done with college and have a full time job.

I agree. But if that were to happen, I`d gladly take their Flight Deck at Kings Island. I think a B&M invert at KI would be a hug hit. Even with the Arrow suspended coaster and a Vekoma Invertigo at the park.

A few words about the comments you posted below the segments of the ride outside the manufacturing plant. First, as others have mentioned, use spell checker! You spelled appears wrong! And yes, spelling is a big deal. I went on an interview for a co-op position once. I had THREE spelling errors on my online portfolio website (they were typos, and three scattered over about thirty pages). But my interviewer informed me of those typos... Needless to say, after that interview, I ALWAYS spell check things. (I ultimately did not end up taking a position at that firm). Secondly, the portion you mention about us being 'not too far behind Cedar Point.' Our ride foundation was actually poured BEFORE Cedar Points. Not to mention Cedar Point opens two full weeks behind Kings Island. Which is roughly the time difference between the pours of the ride foundation at Kings Island and Cedar Point.

Yes, you would be correct with your assumption of Sea World Orlando. While there maybe more than one Fun & Only, they clearly do not "have it." OK, shameless plug there for Coney. But hey, it is Coney`s 125th anniversary season, so I have to mention them.

You would be surprised how many people in Kings Island`s live shows are not locals! Next time you are at the park, check out the cast listing (usually at the entrance to the venue). It lists the names and hometowns of the cast. Its not uncommon to see several people from places like Tennessee, or even farther make the cast list. And, I do know that one of the skaters from KI`s ice show a few years back was skating in the holiday ice show at Sea World this past December.

One of these years, I`d love to get out to California. I`d love to visit DisneyLand, Knott`s, Six Flags Magic Mountain, and California`s Great America. Heck, I`d even like to visit Vegas. Alas, currently money and time off do not allow for me to make a western trip. Don`t get me wrong, I have lots of $$ in the bank for a YP a few years out of college, but I am saving up to buy my first house, and then I will be poor. I agree, that the parks which are most likely to receive this installation are Michigan`s Adventure (although that seems less likely since they just got Thunderhawk, a Vekoma SLC., back in 2008). So Dorney, and ValleyFair seem like logical choices. Are we expecting this ride to open at a Cedar Fair park in 2011? Or is this more a 2012 installation time line?

What investment has Cedar Fair put into California`s Great America over the years? It certainly seems like it has been the "neglected step child" of the chain. Although, I suppose the turmoil over the future of the park, has resulted in Cedar Fair not wanting to invest too heavily in capital expenditures in the park. Could we eventually see this park turned into a water park only property? I mean, Paramount did remove Stealth to build a water park on its land.

Well, there I go. Notice, how I said it might have been removed for construction of the expanded water park in 1997. I stand corrected. I never went to Water Works until 1998, the first year that I had a season pass to King Island. Ironically enough, I have only been swimming in Boomerang Bay one time since the park was re-named that.

Again, a very nice picture. One interesting thing to note with that artist rendition. That pool and small kiddy slides on the right side, I believe were never built (unless they were removed for the water park expansion in 1997). Ironically, that is almost the exact location where Jackaroo Landing and Kookaburra Bay were installed with the renovation of Water Works into Boomerang Bay in 2004.

And not to be confused, Coney Island (the park) was actually renamed "Old Coney" in 1976 after Kings Island opened, so as not to confuse locals with two parks with the same name of "Island." Coney was renamed to Coney Island in 1985.

Yeah, it kind of seems like they just shifted some titles around. I mean, Kinzel is still a member of the board, and Harvey was a member of the board before this vote. They just changed around the titles. Will Kinzel now have to report to Harvey? Or will Kinzel be a lame duck since he has less than a year left until he loses his title of CEO as well?

Wow! Now that is a really cool construction picture, Paul, one that I have never seen before! Do you have anymore Water Works construction pictures?

I didn`t expect to see this released tonight. It is interesting that the separation of CEO and Chairman only passed with a 54% in favor vote. It should be noted that Kinzel`s compensation, per the SEC filing will NOT be changed to reflect his resignation of the Chairman of the Board position. Even more interesting, is that the measure for increased cash distributions had 49.33% in favor of larger distributions, which explains the strong wording about Cedar Fair looking at their distribution policy for 2011, based on the strong results for 2010. I wonder, if they have discussed this press release with Q before issuing it. Q had objections before about the closeness of the vote on this measure, and it certainly was a close vote. It will be interesting to see how the market reacts to this news tomorrow. And for the record, the voting break outs are outlined in the SEC filing, which can be found by going to Cedar Fair`s website.

When I went to Universal in early December, the park wasn`t that terrible crowded. We got there right at park opening and headed straight for the Wizarding World. We practically walked right onto the Harry Potter ride. We jumped back in line for a reride, and encountered a line that had grown by about five minutes from walk on. But, a brief (fifteen minutes) moment of downtime, and by the time we were off the ride, the line was out the main entrance to the ride! So, I guess a word of advice would be to head to that area of the park right away. Universal definitely did this area right. And for them, it has been like a license to print money.

Ah, but there are other types of lights besides those as well. For example, the street lights that were used in the renovation of Rivertown use high pressure sodium lamps. These lamps are denoted by their orange color that they produce, as evident in Rivertown at night. The wave of the future will be in LED lighting, although the technology is still in its infancy for lighting. While LEDs are more expensive up front, even compared with CFLs, they produce a lifespan of upwards of 30,000 hours, and even that number maybe conservative. (Because they are so new, many manufacturers are airing on the side of caution when specifying the lifespan of LEDs.) Currently, LED lighting is getting a lot of use on wall mounted signs for buildings, but their use for general lighting is becoming more prevalent. Currently, in the Cincinnati area, all United Dairy Farmers light their gas canopy with LED lighting fixtures. I had a lunch and learn in the office about six months ago discussing LED lighting. I believe that the lights on the Scrambler may actually be LED lights already. They are definitely the wave of the future. Hopefully, WindSeeker does get some sort of lighting package. It would just tie into the theme of the area, and look cool at night!

Not to mention, haven`t all of the Glow in the Park parades at the State side parks been cut for this year as well?

Precisely. Another example, is look at the Tornado at Strickers Grove. By most comparisons, that ride would seem juvenile to most coaster enthusiasts, when compared to the larger creations of today from firms like GCI and The Gravity Group. But the ride has some serious ejector air time on it, that unless you ride it, (or have heard reports on it) you would never know about it.

Even if said people are working at a world class, privately held amusement park company? One that already has some local interests in the Cincinnati area?

Yes. That was a very evident overtone in that article. I could see the corporate headquarters leaving Sandusky, if for no other reason, than to have the corporate headquarters located near a major airport. Currently, the closest airport with domestic flights to Sandusky is located in Cleveland. Not exactly an ideal place for a company where they have parks scattered around the country. Although, I suppose there maybe a smaller airport that allows for chartered jets to take off (which maybe how the executives from Cedar Fair travel). Yes, Cedar Fair did recently build a new corporate head quarters building in Cedar Point a few years back, but that doesn`t mean too much. If a new CEO took over, they could very easily move the corporate offices. (Remember that originally, the corporate offices for Kings Entertainment Company (KECO), was located in Cincinnati. Upon the sale of KECO to Paramount, they decided to move the corporate headquarters to Charlotte, NC, in land that was leased, and not on Carowinds property. The headquarters remained there until Cedar Fair bought the Paramount Parks, and they closed that corporate headquarters office and consolidated all the corporate functions into the Sandusky location. Interesting times lay ahead for Cedar Fair, that is for sure. I still see continued investment in Cedar Point even under a new CEO and Chairman. Why? Because it makes good business sense to continue to invest and attract visitors to Cedar Point. They have the largest concentration of hotel rooms that they own associated with Cedar Point, so in turn, they also can have the largest capture of out of park revenue from the Sandusky property. Ie, installing a new roller coaster at Cedar Point will not only see an increase in attendance (which hopefully should lead to more admissions and in park spending), but also an increase in hotel bookings. So they can get more bang for their buck in a sense. That being said, it has been stated from time to time, which four parks they consider to be among their best performing parks. And, ironically enough, those four parks are the ones receiving the WindSeeker rides for this season! Cedar Point, Knott`s Berry Farm, Canada`s Wonderland, and Kings Island. It will be interesting to see who the selection for the next CEO is, and if it will impact the capital expenditures planned for the 2012 season. Only time will tell, I suppose.