CoastersRZ

Well, it may be sunny tomorrow, but I doubt that the Reds opening day will be that enjoyable with a high temperature not expected to reach above 40!

Little Bill`s Giggle Coaster opened in 1992 as Scooby Zoom. It was renamed Topcat`s Taxi Jam in 1998 when Hanna Barbera was renovated. It was renamed Little Bill`s Giggle Coaster in 2006 when Nickelodeon Universe took over Hanna Barbera Land. Also, the kiddy swings ride opened next to the bumper cars in 1992.

Well, Bavarian Beetle there is one ride that opened the year you were born. Yes, I am telling the truth! The Wild Thornberrys River Adventure opened in 1968 at Coney Island. It was then moved to Kings Island for its opening in 1972. For those of you that were around before KI, there is this timeline on Coney Island Central that goes all the way back to 1867 when James Parker purchased his apple orchard, which became Coney Island in June of 1886. Granted, that is not KI, but still somewhat interesting.

Yep. King Cobra was painted during 1998 for the 1999 debut of the new Action Zone (the same year that Top Gun lost its red track color). And King Cobra last operated in 2001, and was removed at the start of the 2002 season.

Especially with how many highways have been rebuilt and reconfigured over the years! GPS devices like Tomtom are nice, but they sometimes give directions a little too late, or get confused when roads have been altered or are under construction.

Yep. See my PTR from Dollywood last weekend! Cory and I arrived at Dollywood at 9:15am and didn`t ride our first ride (Tennessee Tornado) until around 3 or 3:15 because we were watching shows all day! And Dollywood positioned one of their food stands right on either side of about a twelve foot wide path, so that you have to walk by it to get to certain areas of the park. The smells from that place are enough to make anyone want to stop right there and buy some food! It truly is delicious smelling!

Yeah, but there is a chance for a dusting of snow on Tuesday! And as far as predicting the weather on opening day for Kings Island on April 18th, any forecast for that date at this point in time is like a blind man throwing a dart at a map of the United States and hoping his dart lands on Cincinnati. When I went to Dollywood and Carowinds last weekend with Cory, they were calling for 80% chance of rain all day on Satruday up to even that morning. By 1 or 2, it had stopped raining and the sun was out by 5! Sometimes, even with all these sophisticated computers and modeling programs, mother nature does her own thing that goes against what all the models are predicting.

The specifics of that will be announced soon. There will be a way to prove both of the things you asked, and will likely involve bringing some form of printout to the park when checking in.

Yes, and one big difference between Ride Warriors Coaster Weekend and Coastermania at Cedar Point is that Cedar Point has been holding Coastermania for many many years. The park knows how to run the event and what planning is necessary for a park run event. With KI and RW, it is their first park sponsored event, so there is a little more lead time in ironing out the final details to make sure the event goes off flawlessly. Rest assured, if Ride Warriors Coaster Weekend is anything like Coastermania, you will be very pleased with the event, and very very tired. I went to Coastermania in 2007. Nothing like being at CP riding Millennium Force at soon after sun rise, and not leaving the park until 12:30am with a night ride on Magnum! Talk about a LONG day at the park!

Well, if you have been on some of the other Arrow mine train coasters (Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Carolina Goldrusher) you could easily arrive at that impression. These older coasters lack some of the speed that Adventure Express has, and also have a lot more sections of straightaway track. Both of the above mentioned rides also have the old Arrow mine train restraints, ie the ride ops must lower the restraints for each car, and all the restraints in each car lower down together. When I was younger, my mom and aunt tricked me into riding it (this was like 1991 or 1992 when I was six or seven), by saying it was a train ride! I was terrified of coasters for several years after that. In fact, it was not until I rode The Beast in the fall of 1996 for the first time that I became hooked!

Not to mention that it is still listed on Kings Island`s official website. For now just be excited that opening day for the park and Diamondback is less than two weeks away! And by the time opening day is here, I will have less than two months left in college!

Well, in their defense, sometimes they may not know about a defect unless they are told about it. The pedal boats at Coney are a prime example of that (as are the bumper boats). Sometimes the steering mechanism gets reversed (ie left actually turns right and right turns left) or it breaks all together. Often times we as ride ops only find out about this by guests telling us. Likewise, the same is true of bumper boats. Sometimes the throttles break and you can`t go faster than the normal idol speed. This is usually easier for us ride ops to spot than broken steering on the pedal boats. I`m not saying that the ride is or isn`t well maintained (its been several years since I last rode that attraction), but sometimes the park will simply not know something needs to be fixed until someone tells them about it.

Yes, I believe that all attendees MUST preregister. Hopefully it won`t be much longer before more information, including about registration, is available.

From KI`s website: You may, however, bring a guest, but that guest who is not a member of an approved coaster organization MUST pay FULL PRICE for Ride Warrior Coaster Weekend, even if they have a season pass. If she had an ACE membership, she could get in free. She would have to show her ACE card. And when I was a member of ACE several years back, it took them a long time to get me my membership card when I renewed, so if she is going to join ACE, I would do so sooner rather than later! Things might have changed since I was last a member back in 2007. I hope that helps answer your question.

Pavers are much more aesthetically pleasing than just plain asphalt and concrete paving. Not to mention most pavers are lighter in color than asphalt which means they do not create as much of a heat island effect. What that means is that the black color of the asphalt absorbs the heat and makes the temperature several degrees warmer than it actually is. Concrete and light color materials reflect light and do not absorb heat like asphalt and dark colored surfaces. As a result, pavers can produce a better and more enjoyable micro climate. But that is a lot more information than you likely wanted to know!

Yes. I`d actually say going by Scooby Doo`s Haunted Castle might be the quicker route. Remember, that Kings Island may very well have security escort people back to Diamondback once the park opens to avoid a stampede of people running to the ride. I know the park was under different ownership, but they did similar things for Flight of Fear and Backlot Stunt Coaster when those attractions were new. And yes, as stated in the park maps "Due to major ride popularity, it is necessary to close some queue lines before the park`s closing hour." I`m not sure if it still enforced, but Nighthawk at Carowinds even had a note on its sign saying that the park cut its line one hour before the park`s closing time. If you have a KI Gold or Platinum Pass you will be able to partake in early ride times on Diamondback beginning Friday April 24.

That first paragraph offers a broad generalization that is not necessarily true of the regional amusement parks. Both Six Flags and Cedar Fair reported increases in attendance last year, while the destination parks in California and Florida did see their attendance dip as more people stayed closer to home for their vacations.

Last time I checked, the Python was still sponsored by Pepsi. (At least it was last year). I don`t know if that has changed this year but see no reason why it would have. If it has, I will let you know as soon as I know.

I`d like to remind everyone what Ryan stated yesterday:

There is already a topic on this. No need to create another topic on it! If you read the first post in that thread (see link below) you will see that it sufficiently covers your topic. http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?...;hl=photo+shops Topic closed.

Well, I can`t really speculate on that. That would be like asking "So when will the Reds win their next World Series and who will be on the roster." I think it is safe to say that no coasters will be added to Coney in the foreseeable future. Especially with Coney investing a large amount of money ($2 million into projects this year, including the $1.8 million Twister water slide). Not to mention that Coney added three new attractions the previous year (River Runner, Turtle Parade and Eurobungy Dome) and the year prior to that they added the Rock O Plane from LeSourdsville Lake. It all really depends on how successful of a year Coney has, given the current economy. And the rides at Coney are NOT the primary draw or money maker for the park.

Because they likely intended to make the announcement in a couple of days. But when planning a two day event of this size, unexpected problems can arise during the planning stage. The time to resolve these unexpected problems could not be immediately clear. When the blog entry was created, Don could not have foreseen the unexpected delay. Rest assured that the information will be disseminated on here when the official details are released.

Mr. Eagle Eyes, you may in fact be correct. It certainly looks like that building is no longer there. As an aside, imageshack is taking a long time to load your images. At least for me here at UC anyway. Those supports are the same navy blue color that they were last season. Because of the cloudy dreary day and the low resolution of the webcam, they appear to be black. I actually remember seeing a film in the Cinema 180 theater. You actually sat on the floor.

Well, things take time. But things will be finalized soon. They have to be since May 9th and 10th is just over a month away from now.

Well, Cedar Fair is looking to sell off some assets so that it can remain a viable company moving forward. And the fact that Cedar Fair does not own the land that Great America sits on is a further reason why the sale of Great America would make sense. Cedar Fair has a long term lease for the land, that it inherited when it bought Paramount Parks. In 1985, the Marriott Corporation was looking to sell both of its Great America parks in California and the one in Chicago (which is now owned by Six Flags). The California park was sold to the City of Santa Clara Redevelopment Agency. The 118 acres of land was sold for $72.5 million with another $16 million for the rides, buildings and equipment. The city then entered into a management contract with KECO for five years with an option for KECO to purchase the park at the end of the contract. In 1989, KECO exercised its option to buy Great America`s business assets (buildings, rides and equipment) from the Santa Clara's Redevelopment Agency for approximately $25 million. Also, KECO then entered into a 50 year land-lease with the city`s redevelopment agency. The above is just a little of the back story on how Great America became a part of KECO, and later Paramount Parks and Cedar Fair. I`m not sure how much money Great America makes in revenue, but have heard that it is a weak performer. Not to mention that the park is land locked.