CoastersRZ

Not to mention that rides are designed with a certain design position for the rider to safely experience the forces. Riding in a position that is not recommended can submit ones body to higher or unusual forces which could lead to injuries. There is a reason why manufacturer recommendations are followed. Because they are the ones who designed the ride, they know what is a safe riding position. And in the State of Ohio at least, amusement parks and carnival operators must abide by manufacturer rules. Not to mention, I`m sure their insurance company would be outraged if they found out that they were operating a ride contrary to how it was intended to be operated. If I witnessed a carnival that was not following posted rules and regulations I would be hesitant to ride any attractions at that venue. What other rules could they not be following? Are they not following all of their maintenance rules as well?

Yes, there is a time capsule by the entrance to Moonlite Gardens. It is slated to be open on June 21st, 2011. See the below image.

In 1907, the Coney Island Company was reorganized as The Coney Island Company of West Virginia. This was done primarily for tax and liability reasons. Lee H. Brooks and his two sons were still the ones primarily in charge of this new company. John Winslow Hubbard bought Coney Island in 1922 for $300,000. In 1924, Hubbard sold Coney (which by this time had 108 acres) to Coney Island, Inc. Coney Island Inc. principles included Rudolph "Rud" Hynicka, George F. Schott, and William O. Mashburn (whose family owned the Coca-Cola franchise in the Cincinnati area, and as a result, Coca-Cola became the official drink of Coney). February 21st, 1927, Rud Hynicka dies of a heart attack. He had owned 15 of 65 shares in Coney Island Inc. George Schott assumed control of the park. In 1935, George Schott passed away due to a heart attack at the age of 57. His son Edward Schott and son-in-law Ralph Wachs took over the operation of running the park. Edwards Schott passed away in 1962. Ralph Wachs and his son Gary Wachs were now in control of Coney Island, Inc. In July of 1968, Taft Broadcasting bought Coney Island for $6.5 million with the intention to build Kings Island. Taft Broadcasting would own Coney even after Kings Island opened in 1972. (Sunlite Pool did open for the 1972 season). In 1987, Taft Broadcasting was bought by Great American Communications, who became the new owners of Coney Island (Great American, like Great American Insurance is related to Carl Lindner and family). In 1991, Ronald Walker purchased Coney Island from Great American Communications for $3.8 million. Ronald Walker died unexpectedly in 1997, and his wife Brenda Walker continues to own Coney to this day.

On June 21st, 1886 (122 years ago today) Ohio Grove: The Coney Island of the West officially opened. The steamboat the Guiding Star transported those first park guests to the park that day. While that day is the official opening of "Coney Island", the name the park eventually took as its sole name in the following year, the roots of the park extend further into the past then 1886. James Parker opened his 400 tree, 20 acre apple orchard to picnic goers back in 1867. He operated his picnic business with early amusements until he sold it on March 18th, 1886 for $17,500 to the Ohio Grove Corporation. The Ohio Grove Corporation was spearheaded by William and Malcolm McIntyre, both steam boat captains. This company was only in charge of Coney Island for a few seasons. In 1888, the Coney Island Company took control of the park, under the tutelage of Commodore Lee Brooks.

Well, I would suggest that you visit this page if you wanted to view all the photos that the staff of KIC have taken of the current work being done in the Rivertown area.

Oh my. What the heck happened to that Eli Wheel? Was that storm damage or something else?

Mr. Postman, while you may not like to hear all the facts about specific things that I share that is fine. But you certainly do not have to go around these boards writing posts with harsh overtones about me such as your post above (and the name is CoastersRZ, not "coasters"). You clearly do not hold Coney or its Ferris Wheel with as high of a regard as what I do. And you obviously haven`t spent seven years working in the day to day operations of an amusement park to understand some of the intricacies of an amusement park such as what rides the general public enjoys. By all means you may post about KI in these forums. And Coney`s Ferris Wheel is not a piece of crap. As you have pointed out, at least Coney has a Ferris Wheel. And it provides, as King Maple pointed out, a more thrilling ride as opposed to a sight seeing ride offered by larger Ferris Wheel`s like at Kentucky Kingdom and Cedar Point. The one thorn in the side of all Ferris Wheels, regardless of their size (and this includes the wheel at Coney, Kentucky Kingdom, and Cedar Point) is capacity. They can only load one or a few cars at a time. And with only a few guests per car, they can take quite a long time to load and unload. This equates to not a high capacity, and can lead to long lines, as opposed to other rides which have higher capacities.

And to be technical, it is not a dividend, but a cash distribution. Isn`t all the loose change at KI collected and given out as scholarship money to seasonal associates at the end of the year?

No, they have not added any more brakes to the brake shed on The Beast since the magnetic brakes were installed. (And I`m not Gordon). The first car still makes it up to the first of the two egress stands on the second lift hill with the current braking system. And has done so since the brakes were installed. Under the old skid brakes, it still would reach about the same point, but would be less consistent. Some days it would climb higher (and thus be going faster) and on some days it was well below this (and be going slower). Of course, the amount of people in the train (and in turn the amount of weight on the actual train) also is a large factor as to how fast The Beast actually goes.

That black light is part of the current lighting system that illuminates the Eiffel Tower at night.

Well, I have to voice my opinions on my favorite ride at Coney! Besides Coney is a fun family friendly park. If you haven`t been there or haven`t visited recently, I highly recommend it! After all, 'Coney has it!' I still can`t believe Mr. Postman called Coney`s wheel a "puny excuse for a wheel". Try telling that to all the kids that are scared to ride it, but walk off the ride with smiles wanting to ride it again!

Well, if you wish to be technical about it, there is no 300 foot observation deck on the Eiffel Tower at Kings Island. The two "high level" observation decks stand at 275 and 265 feet above grade, respectively.

Excuse me? "That puny excuse of a wheel at Coney doesn`t count"? I have operated Coney`s Ferris Wheel now for six years. Coney`s Ferris Wheel is an Eli Bridge #5 Ferris Wheel, with a cable drive. This ride has twelve seats on it, and was originally designed in 1912. Coney`s ride was built in 1947 and moved to Coney in 1990. The ride stands 45 feet tall, and features 12 cars. Coney`s Ferris Wheel is perhaps one of the fastest traditional Ferris Wheel`s you will find. (It runs a lot faster then the cable driven Eli Wheel at Stricker`s Grove). The Ferris Wheel is a classic ride, and a fan favorite among guests at Coney Island. In fact, Coney just replaced all the lights on the Ferris Wheel with a brand new set for this season, replacing the old rusted light casings. Unfortunately, due to the unusually high speed that Coney`s wheel operates at, it is sometimes prone to protein spills (which can be quite disasterous if guests try and lean over so as to avoid getting it on themselves (I`ve witnessed this on more then one occasion), and the same phenomenon occurs on the Rock O Plane.

Not to mention, spoken by a person that likely had no idea on how much money is spent on maintenance for park rides in a given year. (Or the reduction in forces cause by trim brakes that make the ride more enjoyable for the general public, and can reduce injuries on rides). And since The Beast`s magnetic brakes were installed, they have been applied in the brake shed the same amount. More magnetic brakes were not added in the brake shed after Cedar Fair took control of the park. Occasionally, they removed a few of the magnetic trims at the top of the second hill in the spring, until the trains break in for the season and the risk of valleying has been removed.

And, to add to the nostalgia element I`ll toss in these fun facts. In 1953, the Wallenda family performed at Cincinnati`s Coney Island, also without a safety net. They also performed at the park for the 1966 season, when two members of the troupe actually rode bikes on the high wires!

Up until this season, the floral calendar had the original Kings Island logo on it. Unfortunately, the original logo did not return for this season. Additionally, part of the old ivy covered walk way had remained to shade tables behind the Ice Cream stand in Nickelodeon Universe. That to was removed prior to the start of the season this year. Furthermore, there is an old Sky Ride footing located near Outer Hanks` Back Porch Bar that is partially covered by an old row boat. And of course, you can still catch some of the subtle architectural elements on the buildings that hint to the country with which they were originally associated.

No, I would not count on any mention or developments with regards to the 2009 developments to occur on the Fourth of July. But I trust there will be other highly exciting developments with regards to the Fourth of July celebrations at Kings Island that have not yet been announced. But who can seriously go wrong with another HB 70s extravaganza, not to mention a second return this season of the Kings Island Clown Band (known as the Kings of Komedy back in their heyday).

The biggest problem with using the lower level of the Eiffel Tower for a haunted attraction are the steps, but not for the reasons you mentioned. The elevators cannot stop at that level, which makes the 50' level inaccessible to those in wheelchairs and physical ailments that prevent them from walking up and down stairs. So I doubt that we`ll see a haunt up there this year. And, I would suspect that CornStalkers will likely have a new home this year, if it indeed returns this year.

Well, I just got home from a double shift at Coney. I was at Eurobungy all day, save for the hour I had to give the people breaks at the Ferris Wheel. The bungy "elastics" that we have at Coney are like rubbery tubing. Currently, all guests must buy a ticket from either the rides ticket booth, or Guest Relations. Guest relations is the closest to the Eurobungy Dome. However, that policy may change, and we may at some point accept money at the actual ride (we had a lot of people offer us money, and had to tell them to head to guest relations). By the end of the day, we had a decent amount of people who had enjoyed the attraction.

Remember, this is Cedar Fair. They have a hug debt to pay off. Why spend nickels and dimes on things that only a few guests will notice? Besides, it is not like people aren`t riding the 'new' Crypt anymore. Heck, I`ve ridden that ride more this year then I did all of last year, just because of its new, and very intense ride program!

Nope. It is too cold in Cincinnati for them to ever hold a Super Bowl. The only time a team lands a Super Bowl in the north is when their facility is climate controlled in the winter months.

While the Eurobungy Dome has four trampolines inside of it, it will take some time to load people into the harnesses. That coupled with the low number of trampolines would mean that if it were included with wristbands, as Interpreter pointed out, that the line would be enormous. For a good example of that, just look what happens at Famous Fairways Mini Golf when there are large groups at the park. They get to play golf essentially for free (minus the $1 ball deposit per ball that everyone must pay). Yesterday, at golf, I was constantly running out of balls and putters. There was often a line of people to starte golfing at hole one. Golf, like the Eurobungy Dome is a relatively low capacity attraction. It is also relatively cheap. People with rides wristbands only have to pay $1 plus the $1 ball deposit. Members can play for free (they still have to pay the ball deposit) on weekdays, and for $1 on weekends. If the guest does not have a wristband or a pass, they pay $3 plus the ball deposit.

Uh, then how do you explain the Cincinnati Bengals? They had a new stadium built when they were known as the laughing stock of the NFL.

What, no ride on the Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel that was built in 1947 and built at Coney in 1990?

They have some images in the museum shop. Other then that, there isn`t much on display in the park. On a side not, the Eurobungy Dome did not open today. Today was the training day for that ride. I myself was trained on that ride. The attraction should open tomorrow. Guests must be between 20 and 220 pounds, have no casts, or braces, no recent surgeries, and must not have any ligament injuries. Again, the attraction is an upcharge attraction and will cost guests with rides wristbands $5 and guests without a wristband $6. The ride was getting dozens of looks from people today. It will surely be a big hit!