CoastersRZ

Actually many many years ago (it was likely 1999 or 1998) I was in line for the Kings Mills Log Flume (that was the name of it before the Thornberrys moved in). In the rock area right beside the splash down and next to the queue line there was a snake slithering along the rocks! And don`t forget about the other smelly creatures that have been known to frequent both Kings Island and Coney Island! Once, after a ride on Drop Zone, we were not released from our seats at the conclusion of the ride because a skunk had entered the ride area and they were afraid everyone getting off the ride would startle it and cause it to spray. Luckily, it ducked under the fence by Skyflyer after a minute and we could exit the ride. At Coney, we have had a skunk in the women`s restroom by the picnic grove before. And my first year at Coney, a skunk had gotten down in the covered trench of the Scrambler that houses the main drive to power the ride. Well, the operator for the day started up the ride for the test runs and was greeted by a very foul smell and startled creature. That area of the park smelled like skunk for months after wards!

Yeah, the spiders on the Ferris Wheel at Coney are rather large. One dropped onto a co-worker this past year in the middle of the afternoon, and she screamed bloody murder! Generally, the spiders on the wheel won`t bother people in the cars though. And it is extremely rare to see them out any other time other than at dusk/evening.

Well, stay away from Coney Island`s Ferris Wheel right around dusk. That is when the spiders that live on the wheel like to come out! Every morning, we have three or four cars that we have to clean out the spider webs that were made overnight!

Summer Showcase and Rock On were definitely held in the International Showcase right beside the Eiffel Tower at Kings Island. I believe that Santa`s Christmas Wish was in deed at Kings Island for the final season of the original Winterfest in 1992. I am not sure about Super Stars. It appears as if it could be in the American Heritage theater, but they would have had added the additional stage projection that comes out into the seating area, as that is not a built in part of the stage in that building. Snowdrift Inn was definitely at Kings Island, as the introduction to the video states. It actually might have been located in the Festhaus, and Santa`s Christmas Wish would likely have been in the American Heritage Theater. Snowdrift Inn, reminds me of the shows I saw at Dollywood for Smoky Mountain Christmas last month. It seems like that show was really well put together! Too bad that Winterfest is no longer around, and that entertainment isn`t as core of a focus as it used to be. However, the last few seasons have seen remarkable progress with the quality of Kings Island entertainment. Hopefully, the entertainment continues to get bigger and better as it has done the last few years! Nice find by the way!

Yes, the restraints are there to keep you securely in the car. Especially through the corkscrew where the forces are not necessarily directly into the seat, but also sideways. So I assume you believe that the restraints on The Crypt do not catch us either? I certainly never get bruises from the restraints on The Crypt. (Although, the same can not be said from the original Son of Beast trains when I rode it nine times in two hours one night during its inaugural season!)

Oh, our final ride on Thunderhead was at a bone chilling 40 degrees. Which with the weather that Cincinnati has had the past few days seems down right balmy. However, it was quite a chilling ride. The Diamondback area sure has changed a lot in the last year. Below is a picture of what the Diamondback site looked like on the fourth of May as seen from the Eiffel Tower.

Yes, the ads on here are not supposed to make any noise. I personally have not witnessed said advertisement yet. What was it advertising?

Yes, B&M machines, like BMW cars, are highly engineered designs and typically do not need major design revisions once a design is settled on. Altering the side of the track that the catwalk/lift stairs is on is not really a major design change as Aaron mentioned. However, to play devil`s advocate I will bring up a rather famous example from another manufacturer. Even in this day and age of computer design and simulations, Intamin designed an element for Maverick that after physical testing of the ride began was determined that it would be too intense for riders and place undue stresses on the trains. The result was that the heart line twist was removed from the ride.

Not sure about pay rates, but don`t expect much as most positions offered will be seasonal in nature. Additionally, as most positions available are seasonal, there is a chance that he could work more than 40 hours a week (potentially up to sixty if he wanted to). Since it is seasonal work, overtime rules do not apply. The best option if he is really interested in the job would be for him to check out the park`s website related to jobs here.

I seem to recall that it is that way, at least on the weekdays. Its not like there is a mad rush right at park opening to ride White Water Canyon.

And my guess would be that you would think the same thing about Dollywood right? A couple hours and then you`d be bored? I made my first visit to Dollywood a few weeks back at the end of December. I went with fellow member Cory Butcher. We spent three hours at the park the first night and most of the next day at the park. We took in most of the shows at Smoky Mountain Christmas, and really enjoyed the atmosphere of the park. Even though they have a small handful of rides, we both had fun. In fact, three shows we watched consumed 2.5 hours of our time (and that was actual show time, not sitting in the theater before the show started!) In fact, I can`t wait to go back to Dollywood later this year with my season pass, even though they are not getting anything new in 2009 (well, I guess you could say they are getting a slightly reconfigured parking lot, but that doesn`t really count). Another example is from when I went down to Disney World in September. My sister and I watched the Festival of the Lion King show at Disney`s Animal Kingdom. It was a wonderful production, and well worth our time. There is a lot more to parks than just roller coasters and thrill rides. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you will be able to better enjoy amusement parks and the big theme parks and appreciate all that they have to offer.

Why is Six Flags even mentioned in that article as asking for the sales memorandum? Six Flags is going to have a difficult time staying afloat the next several months by itself, without taking on any additional debt. Not to mention that Six Flags would likely destroy the atmosphere of the Busch Parks. It would be interesting if Disney became a bidder, seeing as all of the current Disney parks have been developed from the ground up as Disney parks. Additionally, since Busch Gardens Europe is seasonal, it would be interesting to see if Disney wanted to pursue the Busch Entertainment parks. I think that Disney would be a nice fit for the Busch parks though. The article mentions a rather hefty price of up to $4 billion for Busch Entertainment. That is a huge sum of money (especially in the current economy). Remember, Cedar Fair bought Paramount Parks for $1.24 billion in 2006. And given that no one submitted a bid on the Hard Rock Park (where the minimum bid was a paltry $35 million, I have to wonder if anyone will seriously enter a bid that is anywhere near what Anheuser-Busch InBev wants for Busch Entertainment. Given that, I would think that what the article calls a "demerger", also known as spin off, might end up being the end result. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens. I unfortunately have never been to a Busch Gardens or Sea World park yet.

I don`t know. Prowler is a GCI coaster. I rode Thunderhead at Dollywood, my first GCI coaster, just this past December and was really impressed with the ride. I wouldn`t be sounding so sad. If Prowler is anywhere near as good as Thunderhead, you are in for a real treat!

Yep. I believe that I mentioned that somewhere in the dozens of pages in this thread! Yes, all the remaining track work will likely be completed with the smaller, more maneuverable white cranes that actually have wheels.

It all depends on when they get all the electrical work for the ride connected, tested and ready to roll. Likely March, as Beast1979 pointed out, but that blog entry was from October. A lot of things can change in three months.

Just to clear some things about that optical illusion of the potential trim brake location as seen from the wecam. If there were to be a trim brake, there would be a catwalk type structure around the track where the trim brake was so that maintenance could inspect the mechanical systems of the brake. For an example of this, I direct you to this image of Behemoth. You can clearly see the location of the trim brake on the ascent after the hammerhead turn.

Yep. Although, travel just a few minutes north on 71, and you are back into the country setting once again. While it is excellent to see how the park looked back then, the one thing that the park has now that it did not necessarily have back then is mature trees. Yes, there have been several trees that have been removed, particularly in the Action Zone area of the park, and a few have been removed in Rivertown for Diamondback. But, on a whole there are a lot more mature trees within the park now that can offer shade to guests than there were when the park opened in 1972. Look at International Street as a prime example of that.

There are several issues why these drains have yet to be implemented. As the article states, some of the models are on back order, so the pools cannot install the proper drain to be in compliance with the law. Additionally, the Consumer Products Safety Commission, which is overseeing the law, is relying on the individual states to enforce this new law, which means each state varies a little bit with how strictly there are enforcing the law. As an aside and to bring up a topic that has long been discussed before, I`d like to bring up the subject of Ed Markey. Mr. Markey has long wanted the amusement park industry to be regulated and inspected by the Consumer Products Safety Commission to ensure that the amusement rides are safe throughout the country. Some states, such as Ohio have a strict ride inspection program that inspects and certifies every single ride in the state every year. While other states have little if no state inspection programs. This pool law just demonstrates the fact that if Mr. Markey got his way with his amusement park legislation, it would not alter or change much about the way that amusement parks are inspected. As a result, it would do little if anything to improve the safety of amusement park rides. Alright, that is enough of a diversion from the topic at hand, but I thought it was a relevant example of what would be flawed with Mr. Markey`s initiative.

Guy1115, there is a reason why the park would want half an hour on ERT every day of the season versus having a five hour block one night. While they will pay more in labor costs for the early morning ERT, it gives pass holders a reason to make multiple visits throughout the season. If they are making multiple visits, in theory, they are going to be spending money inside the park on those multiple visits. So if the park can get pass holders into the park on more days, and spending more money on those days, then the increased labor costs will more than be offset.

Because teenageninja has been through the process of testing a new coaster. Thanks Aaron, appreciate the defense. Just because you work at Coney Island and your getting your Masters in DAAP doesn't mean you know everything CoastersRZ, in fact your know it all attitude is really starting to get on my nerves. I`m sorry if you took offense to my post. If you have had experience with testing coasters like Aaron said, then your post did not seem to reflect that to me. I`m sorry if that offended you. But I take offense to you telling me I have a know it all attitude. I share insightful stuff related to construction that many on these boards find informative. And when I post about stuff, I generally know what I am talking about, and not just making stuff up or rethinking it as some others who have been pointed out in this very thread have been known to do. Never once have I proclaimed to know everything. And I do not have to share my construction knowledge on these boards. But many find that information interesting. I`ve been around this site long enough and know a lot of things about Kings Island that I may appear to know a lot, but I certainly do not know everything. Back to the original topic at hand. The brake run track for Diamondback now appears to be in place from the views offered by the webcam. I believe that piece was likely the last piece that Clifford the big red crane will lift into place for Diamondback. The final helix and the final piece of track likely can be complete with the smaller, more maneuverable white cranes.

And, depending how the weather is the week before the event, you may want to bring a spare set of shoes, just in case the shoes you wore for the Diamondback and park tour get all muddy. You don`t want to be tramping the mud up into the International Restaurant.

That picture first appeared in another thread here on KIC last week. It was sent to us by Mr. Helbig from Kings Island.

The history section on Coney Island Central has been expanded to include even more historical information about the legendary Coney Island. One of the main focuses of the update was to include historical information on many of the rides that resided at Coney prior to the opening of Kings Island. Be sure to check out the update to the history section here. If you happen to have any historical pictures from Coney Island, please send me a PM. We are always looking to expand the historical image gallery on Coney Island Central and user contributions is an important part of that effort!

And how do you know how long it takes to test a ride? And its not just as easy as throw on the trains after completing the track and firing up the lift to test the ride. First they need to complete all the electrical systems for the ride so that all the sensors and ride can operate as it is supposed to. Then they need to do weeks of testing. Not only are they testing all the operational systems of the ride, but they will also be testing loading the trains in different configurations.

That is also true. Because of the bad economy, people are not necessarily forgoing actually visiting the park. However, they may be cutting out some of those in park purchases like funnel cakes, like you mentioned, because people are watching their pennies, and not willing to fork over so many nickels to Cedar Fair. It would be one thing if the quality and service of the food items were worth the price, but often times, the price and quality of the food are not compatible.