CoastersRZ

There is no need to go that far to get a coaster fix in the off season! Dollywood is open through December for their Smoky Mountain Christmas festival. And yes, their coasters are open as long as the mercury stays above a certain threshold. I went last year (my first visit to Dollywood) and I was really glad I went. The shows are amazing, and I absolutely love Thunderhead!

One of my favorit memories is when several of us Coney ride operators made a visit to Kings Island on one of our days off. Several of us actually met in Coney`s employee parking lot and we drove up to KI. A little odd thing that happened is myself and a friend decided to ride Slingshot. Well, it later turned out that both of us were promoted to rides managers halfway through August, go figure. Some of us Coney people are going to be making a return trip to the park next Friday night. My first ride on Diamondback was memorable for reasons that I can`t really get into here. Lets just say that it is always nice to see something that was on paper become a three dimensional object, and I`ll leave it at that.

"Superstars" was featured in the American Heritage Music Hall (now the Kings Island Theater) in 1991. "Broadway on Ice" was featured in the Festhaus in 1991. The stage was much larger as you can tell than the present stage. "Escapade" was the featured show in the American Heritage Music Hall in 1992. It was the last major show produced by Kings Productions, which was the division of Kings Entertainment Co. that produced the live shows for the parks. As you can tell from the video, Escapade was on par with shows that you would now see at Dollywood. Unfortunately, shows of this caliber were not a prime focus for Paramount Parks at Kings Island. The "Santa`s Christmas Wish" was staged in the American Heritage Music Hall in 1992. I actually saw this show when I was seven years old. "Snowdrift Inn" was staged in the Festhaus. As many of you know, 1992 was the last year that the original Winterfest was held, as Paramount purchased Kings Entertainment Company in July of that year, and decided to discontinue the event after the 1992 season.

I still don`t get why they can`t run two trains on The Beast in the rain. I mean it has two lift hills. I would think it wouldn`t be that hard to modify the plc to allow for two train "rain mode" operation. I mean there are two lift hills, and three block sections in the station area. That is essentially the same number of blocks as what Diamondback has. I just know that one train operation on a ride that has a ride time of nearly five minutes can turn even a small line into one that is not worth waiting in.

And keep in mind that if it is raining, as it was this past Friday night, Diamondback has another perk over most of the other coasters. In the rain, all the coasters save for Flight of Fear and Diamondback run one train operation. The way the blocks are set up on Diamondback, they can run two trains in the rain. And believe me, having a second train is a big deal for line speed when its raining. Can you imagine a five train wait on The Beast with only one train operation???

Well, I read the report on the 2006 accident that was issued by the state. It clears up some matters that have been discussed in here. Primarily, the piece of wood failed not because of a defect in the wood, but because it could not safely handle the load that was applied to it. Most engineering things have a factor of safety built into the design. However, per the state investigation, subsequent alterations to the ride made the structure stiffer, which may have accelerated the event but did not directly cause the event. Ultimately, it was a design flaw and inherently would not have been detectable during routine daily inspections. In fact, the failure of one piece of wood led to the immediate failure of two other pieces of wood which could not handle the additional loads that were placed on them. Granted, I am not a structural engineer, nor am I privy to maintenance related issues at Kings Island. But based on the report issued by the state, and knowing what I know, I would say that Kings Island was operating what they believed to be a safe ride at the time of the incident. At any rate, I bet that this thing will settle and we will never really know much more about it than what we presently do. Of course, I have been proven wrong before...

Based on the weather forecast I heard, after tomorrow morning, the forecaster rain for Thursday and Friday evenings is spotty at best. Yes it will be cold. And some rides (Invertigo comes to mind) may not open due to the cold. But I do not think rain will be that much of a factor on Friday. Then again, until the weather actually happens, there is no way for certain to predict the weather.

Now that shows the power of the search feature, and having a good memory at that for remembering yet another wonderful post from Shaggy!

Yep. Siebert`s voice graced many recorded spiels at Kings Island. The no-smoking spiel that used to be played in The Beast`s station, spiels at Thunder Alley, and others that I now forget. I believe that other than the Son of Beast one, most of them have been replaced or are no longer used. And of course, Mr. Siebert is now employed with Schlitterbahn. Although, I know that he still sometimes makes visits to the Cincinnati area. I actually saw him this year, and not at Kings Island...

An interesting note about the floral calendar. This year, they no longer have the year demarcated in it. Just the month and the day. I wish they still had the year in it, as it was a great photo op (it still is) that could spell out the year directly in the photograph.

Yes. Parks unfortunately get sued more frequently than most people know about. However, it is rare that these civil suits actually get to trial. These two cases may not even reach a final decision in the court room if both sides agree on a settlement.

Talk about a run on sentence! And to answer your question about the original Premier trains. Its hard to say in hindsight who was responsible for the ultimate weight of the trains. Was Premier given a weight that the trains had to be designed to? Was there a specified weight limit for the trains? I certainly don`t know. I do know that the Department of Agriculture investigation into the accident in 2006 ultimately concluded that portions of the structure were inadequately designed. Ie, certain vertical posts were stressed to the critical point, where they failed because they couldn`t handle any more stress. Was that stress a result of the weight of the trains? Again, I am no structural engineer so I don`t know. The weight of the trains likely didn`t help the situation any. It will be interesting to see in say five years from now, what ultimately ends up happening with Son of Beast. I have my own opinions on the thing, but I would be rather surprised if we see the ride in its current form operate at Kings Island. Will it be removed or heavily modified remains to be seen. What is clear is that the park will be doing something with the ride as it is clearly not the ride experience that they want for park guests.

Considering that Six Flags is likely relocated Chang to another Six Flags park and that no new stand up coasters have been built in years, the likelihood of that happening are about as likely as Kings Island building a ride like Top Thrill Dragster. As in not going to happen.

Which explains why Knott`s Berry Farm got Xcelerator, among the first Intamin hydraulically launched coasters? Or why Valleyfair and Worlds of Fun have both installed GCI coasters (which are typically regarded as the cream of the crop in wood coaster design) and Cedar Point has yet to be graced by one of their masterpieces? While Cedar Point is Cedar Fair`s flagship park, it doesn`t mean that they will not install a ride at another property just because Cedar Point doesn`t have that same ride.

I don`t know when the Scooby Bucks first showed up. Needless to say, they were around long before I was into Kings Island, considering in 1989 I was only four. But they are virtually the only traces of the original Kings Island logo from its first season that can still be found. (This logo was actually the second used by KI as there was an earlier version that appeared in promotional material advertising Kings Island prior to its opening.) For years, the floral calendar next to the Eiffel Tower used to have the original Kings Island logo in it. But that disappeared several years back.

Like I said in my post above, just because a ride seems to always have a walk on line does not mean that the ride is unpopular or certain to be removed in the near future. Other factors go into the decision on when a ride should be removed. Part of the length of the line depends on the day of your visit, how fast the crew is working, and how efficient the ride is in capacity. And there are other places to put new rides. Keep in mind that amusement parks are not just about the roller coasters. Flat rides can be great attractions that cater to families, and not just thrill seekers. Look at what Kings Dominion added this year: two family attractions in a Americana (ferris wheel) and El Dorado. It still boggles my mind that people are so quick to wish that rides get removed.

Yeah, one side of the Action Theater is used for Urgent Scare and has been modified from its days as a theater to accommodate the haunt. And it is time for Spongebob in the Action FX Theater to be replaced anyway. It debuted in 2003, which makes its seven season run the longest of any other of the signature movies to be shown in the Action Theater. Days of Thunder was shown from 1994 through 1997. James Bond: A License to Thrill was shown from 1998-2000. The 7th Portal (the first 3D film in the Action FX theater) was shown from 2001-2002. In all honesty, unless they upgrade the theater to include some 4D effects (such as water, wind or smell effects like some of the theaters down at Disney World or Six Flags parks), I think that the Action FX Theater has pretty much run its course as a popular attraction. Now if they added some more family rides along Coney Mall back there, say on the former site of the laser tag building, it could increase the popularity of the FX Theater and whatever movie they are showing there next season. But I doubt that we will see any new rides added to Kings Island next year on the heels of Diamondback. See Canada`s Wonderland this year as an example of no major investment after they added Behemoth in 2008.

I don`t want to beat a dead horse anymore, but I personally do not mind the name Flight Deck. I would have rather seen the ride dubbed Afterburn like the ride at Carowinds was renamed. But alas, that is not the point of your poll. Kings Island will remove whatever ride in the future that they deem necessary. Maintenance costs, the rides popularity in terms of ridership, its marketability, operating costs, and other things are all factors in what rides are removed from parks. I`m sure that if KI has a ride or rides that they are thinking about removing, they likely have plans in place to replace said rides. That being said, there is no reason to want rides removed simply for the sake of no longer having them in the park. Some people may not like certain rides, but other people love them.

That is just the nature of The Beast, unfortunately. Put a solid surface that close to riders when they are waiting for the train to advance and they will find something to entertain themselves for the few seconds they are there. The only real way to solve the issue is either remove the tunnel in that area of The Racer (it originally was not enclosed but was like The Beast as I have previously mentioned) or continually paint the tunnels. In an ideal world, people would not spit or throw there gum on the walls of the tunnel. But unfortunately, people are disgusting and will do such things.

And if you want to be technical, you need to revise your poll again. As there currently is no ride at Kings Island by the name of Top Gun! Flight Deck, the ride formerly known as Top Gun is, however, located at Kings Island.

I last made a visit to Holiday World back in 2006, the year that Voyage was new. Holiday World is a nice little park with some very nice wooden coasters, an excellent water park and some nice flat rides. If you have never been it is worth a visit. I haven`t been back because I have been busy with school and work, and there has been nothing new that really has attracted me to go back. Granted Pilgrim`s Plunge looks like an awesome ride, but I`m not that into water rides or water parks, which is a little surprising given the topic of my thesis last year.

Given Cedar Fair`s track record with themed rides, a good themed ride at Kings Island does not seem likely. I remember riding the dark ride at Cedar Point back in 1994 (it was back by Blue Streak and themed to Pirates). And now look how many dark rides that Cedar Point has. And if Kings Island was to get a B&M inverted, I would not at all be disappointed. Yes, we already have an inverted coaster in Invertigo. But a B&M invert is a totally different ride experience than the Vekoma Shuttle inverted coaster that currently resides at Kings Island. For a fine example of a B&M invert, look down to sister park Carowinds. Afterburn is one awesome ride, and if or a similar ride were located at Kings Island, I would be one happy person!

Let me just add a footer to this post. I assume the "break run" is the place on the coaster you sit to take a break today? Terpy, who just HAD to, and who, given the original poster's precision and care, is on sound footing. Big blue and silver B and M at Cedar Point, anyone? Fair enough. Don`t know how I slipped up on that one, but at least I was on sound footing. And yes, I remember when you mentioned the blue and silver coaster at Cedar Point and attributed its design to B&M. Also, the entire tunnel on the Red Racer side has now been completely painted. How can you tell besides the smell and the missing gum on the walls? When they replaced the roof on the tunnels a few years back, they had not painted the new plywood roof, so you could see the bare wood. Now, everything is bright white. And if you look carefully enough, you can tell that they did not use paint brushes and rollers, but sprayed it on.

As with most things that involve Cincinnati weather, its hard to say for sure what will happen until it happens. Saying what will happen at 7pm or 10pm on Friday, October 9th is a guess. I know that Coney closed a couple of times this summer, where it stopped raining by 12pm and was sunny the rest of the day. I also know that the first night of Haunt this year, it had rained earlier in the day and there was still a light drizzle when Haunt opened. While the park wasn`t packed, it certainly wasn`t empty either.

Well, when The Racer first opened, the break run was not enclosed in tunnels as it is now. It was very similar to how the break run is on The Beast prior to the station.