CoastersRZ

Your statement could be contrived as a rather bad joke if taken in the wrong light. I understand you mean in terms of capacity, but in light of the SFKK incident, it is perhaps in bad taste.

Not to mention that A) they likely won`t even open the parking lot until 4pm and you should not skip school just to camp out in the parking lot at Kings Island to be among the first to ride Diamondback. Even if you were to show up at 6pm, you`d likely still be able to experience Diamondback that first night. As long as Diamondback isn`t tempermental like Son of Beast was on its Friday night preview back in 2000.

Actually, I don`t think the final helix is about to go up. The reason is that the crane is resting on its tires, and not on the hydraulic levelers. If the crane were getting ready to do some lifting in that area, some or all of the wheels would be off of the ground, due to the hydraulic levelers. These levelers keep the crane level and prevent it from tipping over if the load would become unbalanced. And yes, there are two helices on Diamondback. The first one is right before the mid course break run. The second and final helix is right before the splash down and right next to the Crypt.

The season pass preview day, open to all gold and platinum pass holders, on the 17th of April will likely have the same hours as what Friday the 24th has. Friday the 24th, the park is open to the general public and all pass holders from 5pm until 10pm. People that are planning on showing up to the park much more before 4:30 will likely be disappointed, as they likely won`t open the metal detectors and front gate until 4:30 or 4:45. And I`d imagine that come opening time on that first day, they may very well have security walk people back to the ride entrance in an orderly manner when the park opens at 5pm. I`m sure they do not want to have a stampede. Wal Mart found out what happens when you have a mob of people waiting for a store to open the hard way...

Just because you haven`t seen any from the webcam does not mean that there haven`t been any trucks or pieces being moved around by the crane.

Well, there are track and supports that will be placed right by the cave entrance to the Crypt. It could be moving some of these pieces off of flatbed trucks and/or installing some of them.

Thanks! I`m more than glad to share what knowledge I have about the construction and design process. After all, I am currently enrolled in the number 2 graduate architecture program in the country, behind only Harvard. That is according to just released rankings by Design Intelligence and their 2009 design rankings. In 2008, UC`s MArch program was ranked 7th, and in 2006 and 2007 it was ranked second, behind Harvard. For more information on UC`s design rankings, check out the press release from UC here.

Track ties?

Well, if you read the blog like you claim you do, you would know that Don stated track work should be completed between Christmas and New Years. See this blog entry and the Q&A section. Now that being said, weather delays, such as not being able to work due to heavy rain or high winds, like the last two days could push back that target date some. But rest assured that they likely have some weather delays built into the construction schedule. And not all progress is measured by the amount of vertical steel that is placed. There are other things such as electrical work that are virtually undetectable from the webcam, and would be even almost undetectable to the untrained eye inside of the park!

Yep! And he lived to a nice old age as well! Think of all the rides that you have ridden that were designed by Karl Bacon or his company, and all the rides that are possible because of Arrow`s development of the tubular steel rails for the steel roller coasters!

And you, Skaterboy, need to leave the moderating to us moderators! Ok? Good!

Most notable is the comment about park attendance in the last line. Disney park attendance is down 4% for the current quarter.

Yeah. Open International Street up through the Starbucks area so that guests can use that and the Cinnabon location, which could translate into higher guest spending. Its not like they would need that much more staffing of security to man the additional ropes, and how difficult would it really be to schedule employees in those locations a half hour earlier?

Now if only they would bring back the 11pm close on Saturdays in the peak season, especially days like the 4th of July.

Yep. I know that they did that back in 2000 when Son of Beast opened. Not sure if they have done that since then!

I see a couple significant things with the 2009 calendar. For one, the park will be open on the two Saturdays in April until 10pm!! Typically they were only open until 9pm or even 8pm on Saturdays in April. And further more, if you check the August calendar, the park will be open EVERY day in August. Yes, every single day in August the park will be open. In fact, daily operation will not end until Labor day, September 7th. That last week of weekday operation the park is open from 12pm to 7pm. Of course, that is subject to change. And Skywriter, you might want to check that fact. August 17-20 and 24th through 27th the park is open 10am to 8pm, not 10am to 10pm.

No, I believe that he was referring to the fact that Mr. Shapiro mentioned that SFMM is slated to receive a new coaster in 2010, in addition to the GCI coaster next season.

From many years of experience, Ferris Wheel`s are great rides that can please all members of the family from small kids to grandparents. It is a nice addition to Kings Dominion. One thing I do know from operating an Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel, is that Ferris Wheels are NOT high capacity rides due to the fact that only one (or a few on larger Ferris Wheels like at Cedar Point) can be loaded at a given time. Hopefully, Kings Island will receive some nice classic flat rides such as a Ferris Wheel (or even a new set of Flying Eagles) for the Coney Mall area of the park. While those rides may not be the most expensive or thrilling rides around, they are cheaper to install than rides like Diamondback and can appeal to a larger age group than roller coasters. This larger appeal can help the parks attract the older demographics who might not want to tackle the white knuckle rides anymore.

As has been mentioned before, Snowland is a winter event being held next door at the Great Wolf Lodge. The GWL has also been advertising with radio spots for the event as well. It is not related to Kings Island. Kings Island is advertising for it on their marquee because of the marketing agreement that GWL and Kings Island.

But in order to put the crawlers and a cab on a flatbed truck to move it, they would have to remove the boom of the crane.

Yes, I do believe that Clifford`s work on Diamondback is not yet done. Likely, the crane could not safely crawl down in the valley and make it up to the other side, so in order to get the crane to where they needed it, they had to take it apart and move it piece by piece. Additionally, they might not have wanted to roll the entire crane over the new asphalt maintenance path for fear of damaging that path and having to replace it.

Because any one can edit wikipedia, it is not an ideal source for credible information on topics. The only real benefit of wikipedia is using it as a starting point to gather bibliographies, if they are listed. This will give you a selection of books or article to read that can help inform your topic with factual and accurate information. You simply cannot trust everything that is on wikipedia.

That is the only song that I know for sure was featured in the parade. Whenever I hear this song played now, I think of Winterfest and that parade!

I too have encountered that forbidden screen when logging in, both from home and when I`m over at UC. Every time I see that, whenever I go back to the main page and click on forums, I`m logged in, no problem. And I have noticed at certain times the site is running slow. This would be a Dane related technical issue, I`m sure.

This, my friend is OLD news. See: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15627