CoastersRZ

Yep. It is a fun place (after all 'Coney Has It!'). I am rather certain that I will be returning to the rides department at Coney this year for my seventh season (yikes!) on weekends, like I have done the last three years.

Well, a Ferris Wheel is one of those classic amusement park rides. I`ve had the opportunity of working Coney`s Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel for five seasons now. I had more fun running that ride then any other ride at Coney!

Hey, I naturally am a little shy as well. But once I go to work at Coney, that goes out the door! I love interacting with the guests. Especially when you have a kid that is terrified to ride the ride, but you assure them it`ll be fun. Then when they get off smiling and saying that was the best ride ever, you can`t help but smile and say "Have a nice day."

And I believe that the HB license was to expire at the end of 2009.

WCPO Story A boy almost drowned at Coco Key Water Park Resort in Sharonville this afternoon. Employees at the park were able to revive the boy, who was taken to Cincinnati Children`s Hospital Medical Center.

Well I thought that after my first season at Coney, I would never be back as a worker. Little did I know that I would be there for a total of six years, and possibly a seventh this spring! Yes, the pay is bad, but pay isn`t everything. I genuinely have a fun time in the rides department at Coney. I looked forward to going into work each day. The paycheck was a nice bonus. Its kind of hard to explain.

Speaking of the Rock O Plane, here is the Coney Island Central page on the Rock O Plane. It is really a fun ride, although, it can be rather intense at time, especially if you get the cars flipping and rocking!

Well, I`ll throw this in. The Pepsi Python at Coney has anti-rollbacks on several of its hills. Not sure if valleying was ever a problem with that ride or they just added them as a preventative measure from day one.

Right. But that is a tourist destination. Also, NY,NY in Las Vegas isn`t a full fledged amusement park either. For those that don`t know much about the history of amusement parks, all older parks used to be ride tickets only to ride. Their was no "pay one price" admission. In fact, that is how the Disney parks got the name "E ticket" attractions for their big rides. These were the rides that cost the most tickets to ride. Most (but not all) parks have opted to forgo individual ride tickets in favor of POP admission. Some parks, like Coney, simply give you a rides wristband and let anyone walk around the park grounds for free. While most major amusement parks will charge for admission to the grounds (like Kings Island).

And between King Cobra and Mantis, my hands down favorite was King Cobra. For me, Mantis is painful to ride, due to all the blood rushing to my legs. While King Cobra had this same sensation to an extent, it wasn`t as tall or forceful as what Mantis is.

Which for novices, can be a forceful ride, especially as you begin your plummet over the drops! Back when Coney still had individual ride tickets (2003), the Python would set you back six tickets per person. Each ticket was 50 cents, so a ride on the Python would cost $3 per person. Since the individual ride tickets are gone (they were a pain to try and count, while measuring kids for heights and counting how many people you let into the ride area, not to mention they were a mushy mess when it rained!), there is no real "cost to ride" break down at Coney anymore. I agree. $6 would be a little pricey for a ride on a coaster. How many people would pay $6 to ride Vortex? I know it is a different style park and different sizes, but still would be an interesting conversation piece.

I didn`t name all the characters from Nick that are popular. Fairly Odd Parents (I still hate that name for The Beastie/Scooby Doo), Danny Phantom, are among some of the other more popular Nick franchises.

Several years back, after riding Drop Zone, the operators would not unlock our restraints, because a skunk had wandered into the ride area during the course of the ride cycle. They were afraid that everyone getting off would cause it to spray. Luckily, it ducked under the fence by Skyflyer after thirty seconds or so. And at Coney, we have had more then a few close encounters of the skunk time. Numerous times a skunk has found its way into the womens restroom over by the picnic groves. And one morning when an operator was doing the morning test runs on the Scrambler, there happened to be a skunk in one of the cars, that must not have liked the ride, because he sprayed it. That area of the park smelled like skunk several weeks after that incident.

The only reason that Kings Island still has Scooby Doo, is because the licensing agreement for that came with the ride through the manufacturer, Sally Dark Rides. So no, there is not a possibility that you will see other HB characters return to meet and greets anytime soon. However, remember that both Scooby Doo and Yogi Bear were featured in Endless Summers on Ice last season! No Nick characters popular with kids these days? I beg to differ with that statement. Dora the Explorer, Jimmy Neutron, and Spongebob Squarepants are pretty big among youngsters today. Nick is certainly bigger right now then the old HB franchises.

But see, a hotel or campground, if owned by Cedar Fair, would allow for an additional source of revenue outside of the typical park revenue. True a new ride may lead to an increase in attendance and increased per cap spending, but that is all related to in park revenue. At Cedar Point, they generate a lot of out of park revenue because of all the hotels and ammenities that they operate outside of the core park business. Will we see a new campground or hotel operated by Cedar Fair at Kings Island in the future? Who knows? It could happen eventually. I do not, however, see it occurring in the near term future.

I want to say that it was last used in 2005. I`m not sure if they used the trams at all in the early part of 2006. Part of the demise of the tram is when the park removed removed the tram circle by the front gates for the 2005 season. And except for on those extremely busy Saturdays in the summer, there really was no need for the trams on most typical summer days.

Well, at least Kings Island and Kings Dominion only have one parking lot! Coney has two parking lots. One (the east one) is for pass holders and people that purchase tickets. The other parking lot (the west one) is for group sales picnic groups. So when you get guests asking which way to the parking lot, you often have to look and see if they are wearing a group picnic wristband or not, so you can give them directions to the proper parking lot!

My rain story comes from the first year that I worked at Coney. There was a sudden down pour and storm that blew over the park. I don`t even know what ride I was working when the storm rolled in. But, there was one person who was working the pedal boats that day. Well, the storm blew over so quickly, that there were probably ten boats out on the lake when it came in. I was sent down there to help the person at pedal boats get the remaining boats in from the lake. The guests that were getting off the boats were soaked to the bone! Not to mention that by the time we got everyone in, we were equally drenched!

I can`t speak for Ryan or Dane, but to the best of my knowledge, no. That is simply part of the standard forum software. It is a feature that we do not use here at KIC.

On the subject of getting married at parks. Coney will occasionally have actual wedding ceremonies at Moonlite Gardens. Usually the reception will follow immediately after at Moonlite. But most of the time it is just the wedding reception that is held at Moonlite Gardens. Occasionally, the wedding party will make a short visit at the Carousel (located right next to Moonlite) for photos and a quick spin.

Some of that is some pretty awesome sounding technology! Some of that technology is already here. At UC, all the classroom spaces have sensors in them that can determine how many people are in a room, based on the carbon dioxide levels. This also allows for the thermostats to be adjusted in each room when no is in them, to save on energy costs. $15 million for a 5,000 square foot home is outrageously expensive! To the tune of $3,000 per square foot. More then ten times typical residential construction.

I stayed in the Hotel Breakers this past year. The reason was, is my brother and I were there for Coastermania. My parents and sister went to Cleveland to do a college visit at Case Western. The only reason we staid at Hotel Breakers was so that my brother and I could go back to the hotel room for a break in the middle of the day if we needed to, without having access to a car. Yes, it is within walking distance of the park. You are a couple minutes from either the Magnum gate, or the gate near the Wicked Twister and soon to be Planet Snoopy midway. I don`t know if it is necessarily worth the ERTs. Keep in mind that the day I was there, the ERTs for CM started at 6am, long before the resort ERT started.

Well, it has been five years now since I was last at Carowinds (2003 was my last visit to that park). So it was hard for me to get my bearings. I could tell it was in the direction of Thunder Road, but wasn`t able to see how close to Thunder Road it actually was.

Is this being built in previously undeveloped land or did they remove something to put this into the park?

There is a two man elevator inside of the tower that can take maintenance personnel up to the machine room at the top of the tower. You can see the entrance to this elevator when the ring of seats is lifted up. The hatch doorway faces the main queue building.