CoastersRZ

Nah. The bottom of that track is a good twelve to fifteen feet off the ground there. Parts of The Beast, especially the underground portions entering and existing the second tunnel come extremely close to the ground. In fact, I have seen deer before in the turns immediately after the second tunnel.

Yes. Do not take things so personally. While some of us here are expressing opinions that are contradictory to yours, we are not personally attacking you. And if it was an all out flame war, or personal attack, this topic would no longer be around on the boards. We run a fairly tight ship in that regard, after all this is a family site about a family amusement park.

Everyone else in this thread was rather calm and cool as well. We were just taking objection to your claim "most of us" when you mentioned the demise of Flight Deck. Remember what they say about the word assume !

Uh, where to begin. First of all, Arrow Dynamics is no longer around. However, S&S Power has the rights to all their old designs. They continue to supply the parks with Arrow related replacement parts. Secondly, I find your statement about going to the park 50 times and finding Flight Deck closed all but 11 of those likely untrue. The only times that it was NOT open for sure was Friday nights for Halloween Haunt. Otherwise, all the days I was at the park it was open this year. Granted, it may have temporarily closed for small amounts of time during the day for protein spills or small mechanical problems, but as far as I know, that ride did not have the significant amount of down time that you claim it did. Are you just looking to stir up trouble?

Well, that might be a slight exaggeration! I don`t know if I`ve ever used a park map to find directions at Kings Island. I`ve been visiting the park since I was but six months old! I do use the map to figure out the live show times though. And to plug the park that I work at, there are several large (even larger than the poster sized maps that used to reside in certain areas at Kings Island, which began reappearing last year) maps scattered about Coney Island. But since I am a worker who has worked there for seven seasons now, I do not need a park map and can direct guests to the appropriate venue. This usually entails the question "Where is the nearest restroom?"

For those of you who do not know, the exit to The Beast used to be along the path that had the fencing this past season. Right after you crossed under the the tracks for The Beast, you used to turn left instead of going right. The door that says "Authorized Personnel" now, is where the exit used to go. When at the top of the ramp up to the station, if you look out you can see an old bridge that connects with the path (the same one that was used for us to go on the behind the scenes tour of The Beast at KIC day). That was the old exit of the ride until the early to mid 90`s.

I`ll second the Interpreter`s comment. I certainly never said or agreed to the fact that Flight Deck won`t be around much longer. Flight Deck is not a bad ride, and when compared to Iron Dragon at Cedar Point, Flight Deck wins because it is faster, taller and more forceful. Not to mention it doesn`t have the "rattling" that Iron Dragon has. Only thing working against Flight Deck is the long walk to arrive at the station.

Those "white sheet" things would be corrugated steel decking. Once all the steel decking is in place, they will be able to pour the concrete floor. The steel decking acts as the bottom form work for the concrete. It is the same type of construction that was used on Firehawk`s station, and Son of Beasts station.

Yes, and that certain ride in the Carolinas had to have an extensive overhaul this past off season that involved completely rebuilding sections of the ride. Personally, I`d like to see Flight Decks track painted something other than the steel silver color that it is currently painted. And to be honest, that ride needs a paint job more than any other ride at Kings Island. The old red color is showing in many areas, and it is now light pink in color. Either blue or red track could match the Flight Deck sign they have at the entrance to the ride.

Yep. Dry run days typically do not have paying customers inside the park. Whereas season pass days, the paying pass holders are in the park. The whole concept behind dry run days was to iron out some of the pre-opening kinks before the paying customers enter the park.

Do people not believe the published stats for this ride? Its not like they are going to be altered from already published information.

And you have to love the comment about "straight-up good old-fashioned customer service." I haven`t exactly heard glowing reviews about customer service from Six Flags parks, particularly the one a couple hours south from Cincinnati.

The next piece of drop track is currently being lifted by "Clifford."

Well, look for the trees and pavement in the final helix area of Diamondback to become a grass filled area, and not concrete.

The in pool speed slide is still listed on Coney`s Sunlite Pool page as seen here.

Well, they had live musicians at Twistin` to the 60`s in the International Showplace last summer. And they also had live musicians for School of Rock: Live in Concert in 2005 and 2006.

I made it to KI 34 times this year. The ride I rode the most this year? The Beast, with 102 circuits! I didn`t break 100 until the final day of the season. And I also spent five days down at Disney World in September. I have no idea how many days I spent at Coney Island working this summer. But I know that I only made two visits there for fun this year when I wasn`t working.

Well, back in 2000, I rode Son of Beast nine times in two hours when they had a 2 hour ride time for pass holders one July evening from 9-11 pm. That many times on Son of Beast in such a short amount of time was quite a lot!!

All I can say is, yeah right. And I`ll wake up tomorrow with a billion dollars. Not going to happen. Totally fabricated. Topic Closed.

And that is just one reason why the cost of living in California is so much higher out there than it is here.

Wow! A 9.25% sales tax! Its 6.5% here in Hamilton, Clermont and Warren Counties (Butler is at 6.25%). The highest sales tax rate in the state of Ohio goes to Cuyahoga County at 7.75%!

No, I don`t know how Coney did attendance wise this year. I`ve heard that it might have done better this year than last year, but don`t know for certain.

Very interesting article. Its amazing how they are trying to shed their mass media culture image and venture into high end consumer products like that. The very thing that made Walt Disney`s movies and parks so successful was their appeal to the mass culture and the middle and working classes. And I am not currently in the market for a $1,400 Mickey t-shirt or a $6,000 chandelier, even if it was patterned after the one that hung in Walt`s own office!

The parks in the northern region had the largest revenue growth, particularly at Canada`s Wonderland. Kings Island is included in the northern region.

Key notes from the release is that net revenue increased to $877 million on a 2% attendance gain for the first nine months of the calendar year. That is an increase of 402,000 visitors from the same period in 2007. The parks in the northern region had the largest revenue growth, particularly at Canada`s Wonderland. Kings Island is included in the northern region. Read the full press release from Cedar Fair here.