CoastersRZ

It appears as if they might be. Naturally, there will be some sort of sign or marquee with the Diamondback logo proclaiming the entrance to the line. And to answer a question that was posed a few pages back. Yes, the Department of Agriculture`s Rides Safety Division inspects all amusement park rides every spring before the parks open. The rides must be certified by the ride inspectors before the general public can take any rides on each ride. In addition to the inspection in the spring, the ride inspectors make repeat, sometimes unannounced visits to the parks during the regular season to ensure that the rides are still in good condition, as well as to ensure that the ride operators are operating the rides in a safe manner. This includes ensuring that the operators are checking and enforcing height restrictions, securing all entrance and exit gates, etc. They also check to make sure all the necessary paper work is in order for the rides, such as pre-opening checklists and closing checklists.

Yep. The car with handicapped access is typically the last car on the train. The reason for that, is it is closest to the handicapped entrance to the Rivertown train station.

Well, I am the one that gave the Coney Island to Kings Island presentation at the KIC Winter Blues party last month. I know a lot about the history of both Coney Island and Kings Island and I have never encountered this video until today. The person talking about The Racer was John Allen, the designer of The Racer. I`m not positive, but I believe Dennis Speigel was also in that video. Speigel is now the president and owner of International Theme Park Services here in Cincinnati. He is generally quoted in most articles about the industry across the country. And yes, originally, they had intended to make Kings Island a whole resort destination. It might not have been their intention to exactly copy Disney, but with the golf course, KI resort, and campground, they definitely wanted to create a resort destination. This is similar to what Cedar Point has for Cedar Fair.

Ground was broken (and construction started) on June 15th, 1970. The park officially opened on April 29th, 1972. The cost of the original park came in at $29.5 million. Incidentally, Diamondback cost almost as much as the park originally cost to build, coming in at $22 million! Definitely a tremendous find as I said earlier!

If you read Dane`s comment, the database for the forums had an issue last night. He did a restore, so some posts and content from the last few days were lost. Had you been on KIC around 12:30 this morning, you would have not been able to access the forums because of the database crash.

Now THAT is an awesome find! Simply incredible footage, including construction of the Eiffel Tower, Racer, International Street.

Well, the park has to test all the rides every spring before they open to ensure that everything is operational after the offseason rehabs. Not to mention that the Department of Agriculture will be visiting the park to inspect the rides and approve them to be opened to the general public. So not only will Drop Tower be testing, but so will every other ride in the park.

But keep in mind that Six Flags` stock is down because the company has admitted that it might need to file for bankruptcy because of large payments due in August.

I honestly do not know the answer to that question. I`m not sure if it is played at other areas. I know that both the Dodgems and Python have pre-recorded audio warning spiels. Those were added several years back. Round Up and Flying Bobs also got the system, although I have never witnessed the system on those rides actually working.

Coney Island season passes are on sale now. If you`ve thought about buying a season pass to Coney Island, now is your chance. Pass prices increase after March 31st. And buy by May 22nd and receive a free pool and rides ticket to bring a guest for every regular season pass purchased. Check out Coney`s season pass page here for more details.

White Water West. They are the same company that built the Cyclone slide that dumps into the deep end of Sunlite Pool. The interlocking tube slide at Kings Island, Awesome Aussie Twister, was also manufactured by White Water West.

Where the heck did you see that Canada`s Wonderland was listed among the parks that CF might sell?? To quote Cedar Fair`s press release: It merely states that they are exploring the potential sale of those two parks. Nothing is set in stone yet. But what is clear is that CF wants to raise capital to reduce their debt levels, even if that means selling off some of their lower performing properties.

Well since Cedar Fair does not own the land simply the lease that Great America sits on, I would imagine all the assets of Great America would be sold, which includes the rides. However, if the 49ers were only interested in the land and not necessarily running an amusement park, they may be willing to buy the lease from CF. It all depends on the terms of the agreement of the potential sale.

But, being centralized in only the midwest means that they are more susceptible to weather patterns. While if they are geographically diverse, they are better able to weather potential negative impacts from mother nature.

Well, they likely did not want to completely remove the cash distribution. Doing so would give unit holders no reason to retain their units in the company, which would have pushed the unit price even lower. As of this writing, the unit price is up 14 cents to $6.14, a far cry from the 52 week high of $25.

More importantly, for all the unit holders, the annual cash distribution has been cut from $1.92 to $1 in order to help reduce debt levels. This means that the quarterly distribution rate is now 25 cents as opposed to 48 cents (when the rate was at $1.92). I too find it interesting that Great America is the only former Paramount Park to be mentioned as a potential candidate to be sold. I`m a little surprised at Valleyfair being a potential park to be sold, since it was one of the original Cedar Fair Parks. These are tough economic times for everyone, and Cedar Fair is no different. They have a lot of debt to deal with, and they are being proactive to reduce those debt levels.

Well, the splash down at Backlot was not created by the trains themselves. Rather, it was created by a series of pumps that sprayed every time the train went by. Those were only removed for this past season, and they didn`t operate the last couple of weeks in 2007. On Diamondback, the splashdown is created by scoops in the actual trains, and not by pumps that have moving parts.

Well, Herschend was VERY conservative with their capital expenditures for 2009. Just look at Dollywood, where they postponed the planned addition for 2009, citing the economy and increased material costs. Herschend seems to be not just into rides either, but entertainment and shows, as evident at Dollywood. As an aside, Herschend Family Entertainment also now owns the Newport Aquarium.

Its not that bad. Yes, the silver colored track doesn`t look the greatest, but it is still serving its purpose. Now if there was bare steel and rust exposed all over the place, then that would be a completely different matter. While it may not be aesthetically sharp as it once was, the paint is still serving its purpose to protect the steel.

As the old saying goes, you learn something new everyday! Since that copper sulfate cuts down on things like algae, it would not surprised me if they did add some of that to the water. However, with the small "creek" and the spraying from the trains, the water will be circulated frequently, and will not result in stagnant water. Furthermore, the Oktoberfest pond by Viking Fury does not have any copper sulfate added to it, to my knowledge.

What I`d like to know, is how does a screw pop out causing her to fall backwards? If she was sitting on the bench properly, and if it had a back rest, there is no way she could have fallen backwards. Furthermore, I highly doubt that if a screw did come out, that it would have enough force to throw her off the bench and cause all the injuries she stated. The whole thing seems a little fishy to me. Seems like someone is out to make a quick buck. And I agree. Next thing you know, there will be warning signs placed on all wooden benches warning of all the hazards. Some of the things that people sue over are incredible. And these are just the ones that are vented to the public, there are likely scores of more lawsuits for amusement parks that never reach the media.

Its not uncommon for ponds to be dyed so that they do not look muddy. For example, I believe that the water around Maverick is actually dyed. Coney actually put some dye in Lake Como this past season, as it went from its typical muddy color to a green color. (They also stocked the lake with some fish).

Well I wasn`t around when the "Come on, get happy!" was used. But I know what that is in reference to. I also remember the park that used to proclaim "Where fun is easy." That park has a new slogan that surely gets in the heads of people and leaves them wondering just what the park has.

You shouldn`t find it funny that the video mentions Days of Thunder at Carowinds and Kings Dominion. Days of Thunder opened at those parks in 1993. It did not debut at Kings Island until the following season, 1994, which is why there was no mention of it at Kings Island.

It will likely take several hours to fill up the splash down pool. Just like it takes a long time to fill up the Royal Fountain.