CoastersRZ

Notice that in that construction diary, they mentioned footings, the correct terminology. Although, they also said "drying concrete." Concrete doesn`t "dry" as there is a chemical reaction that takes place between the water and the cement, known as hydration. Instead, it cures. It takes 28 days for concrete to cure to 98% strength, and a full year to achieve its maximum strength. Which is partly the reason why you see footing poured and then left alone for several weeks. (Although it can accept loads after about a week of time, assuming they did not place admixtures in it to speed up the curing process). But that is more information about concrete then most cared to know about .

FOFirehawkFAN, Your per caps analogy is not accurate. If one person spends $10 on items in the park, then the per cap spending is $10 (theoretically). Now, if you have ten people in the park and they collectively spend $10 in the park, the per cap spending is $1. Essentially, per cap spending is an average of how much each park guest is spending while in the park. So, if you have ten guests in the park, they may spend say $150 combined while at the park. That breaks down to $15 per caps. Even though say guest number 8 may only have spent $5, while guest number 2 spent $25. Raising prices does not necessarily mean that per caps will go up. If guests feel like they are not getting good value for their money, they are less likely to spend their money in the park. They would be even more reserved to do so multiple times for say, a soft drink. However, if they feel like they are getting a bargain, they would be more then willing to open up their wallets more then one time to buy soft drinks. Which is better, a guest buying one soft drink at $3.50 a pop, or the same guest buying three soft drinks at $1.75 or $2.00?

I`ve said it before. I am in the select minority with the following statement. I actually do not mind the name Flight Deck. I think it conveys the overall theme of Top Gun relatively well. Although there could have been better alternatives, like The Jet Coaster, but even that is rather bland sounding. With time, these names might grow on us. But just like when Flight of Fear lost the name Outer Limits, people still to this day refer to the ride as Outer Limits, more then six years after that name disappeared from the ride.

Yeah, most web updates are usually pretty seamless. But if they need maintenance or to fix something on the servers, that can take some time, and result in the sites being offline. I would venture to say that all the former Paramount Park websites are still on the same server, which is why all the sites are down. I do wonder though, how long it will be before they finally perge those sites of all references to Paramount. There are still quite a few references on there.

I have to wonder if they will in fact get all new websites. Or, if this is a final purge of the websites for anything related to Paramount. I know that there was still quite a lot of references left to Paramount`s Kings Island on the KI website. Personally, I hope they do a complete revamp of the websites. Given the fact that they have taken the websites completely down, suggests that they are doing some major work.

As a unit holder in Cedar Fair, I`m glad to see they maintained the cash distribution. However, I wish the unit price would start heading north instead of south. It close today at $19.73. But then again, the entire stock market was down today (Cincinnati based thing was down $2.02 today!).

Yes, Kings Island got its name from a naming contest in which thousands of Cincinnatians took part in. I`m not sure of the name of the lady who won the contest with the name of Kings Island (of course).

Actually, I think most people that hear of Drop Zone don`t even connect it with the Paramount movie of that same title. That name aptly explains the ride. And with the lack of creativity they gave to the rides they renamed, I`d hate to think of what they would have renamed Drop Zone.

Why thank you. I`ve spent five of my six years at Coney primarily working that one ride, which is my favorite ride to run. That is in part because you get face to face interaction with each and every guest as they board the ride. (I also liked working the Rock O Plane as well.) It doesn`t hurt that both of those rides required two people to operate either! Depending on where my final co-op jobs ends up at, 2007 might have been my last year as a ride operator at Coney Island. But if that is the case, I would be onto much bigger and better things (at a place that would likely be more fun then working at Coney)!

Very interesting article. I know that with my six years in the rides department at Coney, I was older then all but one other regular employee in the rides department (not including the managers, although I was older then two of the four managers as well). Like that article states, the past three years, I have been working at Coney on a weekends only basis to get a little extra cash to help me through grad school.

Actually, the old Antique Cars were not sold. Rather, they were shipped out to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City to be mixed in with their fleet of Antique Cars.

Well, Coney certainly doesn`t have major roller coasters like Kings Island. But, the Pepsi Python packs quite a little punch. Some of the hills offer quite a bit of force. Coney is not all kiddie rides either. Yes, there is a large collection of kiddie rides there. But there are adult rides as well. Keep in mind that The Tempest, Rock-O-Plane, Scream Machine, and Super Round Up all have minimum height requirements of 48" to ride (The Tempest is a little more stringent with those guests between 48" and 52" needing to be accompanied by a a responsible adult). Round Up, Tempest and Rock O Planes all offer some pretty intense rides. And they are ride experiences which you cannot find at most major amusement parks anymore. They are classic amusement park rides.

Did you not even visit the site Cincinnati Transit site that I linked to? That website has all you could possibly want to know about the long failed Cincinnati subway project.

What do you mean it won`t let you into the video gallery? Can you get to the page which lists all the videos? If so, will it not let you view any of the videos? What type of error message are you getting? Dane is the person that would know the answers on how to fix it, but I`m sure he`ll need more information to fix the issue then what you provided.

The Cincinnati Subway was partially built in 1920-1925. Then funds ran out and the construction on the subway was halted. The tunnels that were built still remain and are maintained by the city. Currently, one of the tunnels is home to a large water main. For more information on the subway, head over to this page on Cincinnati Transit.net. The Cincinnati Transit website is a really nice and informative website for anyone curious about the history of major interstates, roads, bridges and transportation infrastructure in the Cincinnati area.

I am among the minority. I personally don`t mind the name Flight Deck. I don`t think it is the best name they could have come up with, but it is not a bad name, by any stretch of the imagination, IMO.

As the Interpreter has pointed out, this exact subject is being discussed in another thread.

In one word. No. This is not true. No one has ever been killed on The Vortex, nor to my knowledge, has anyone been seriously injured on that ride.

Nothing really surprising on that list. The only new name is Thunder Alley for Days of Thunder go carts. Invertigo was essentially a given, since that is Vekoma`s catalog name for the ride and Great America`s Vekoma Invertigo has been dubbed that since it opened in 1998. The one ride not listed as being changed is Congo Falls. Keep in mind the ride was originally Amazon Falls when it opened. Then when the Action Zone opened in 1999, it was renamed Congo Falls after the Paramount movie. A little odd that they did not change this ride name. Although, I am glad that they are keeping the Drop Zone name!

I`m fairly certain that is just his opinion. I still don`t understand why Congo Falls is always one of the rides of choice for people to be removed from the park. It has great capacity, and provides a wet ride to cool down on those hot summer days. Especially in the Action Zone, which is devoid of a lot of shade.

My bad. It was King Maple on the previous page, who was referring to the fact that had KI gotten a Drop Zone in 1997, it would have been like the ride at Carowinds, a second generation Intamin free fall ride.

Yes, as PKIVortex stated, had Kings Island added a Drop Zone ride in 1997, it would have been a second generation Intamin drop ride. The ride that was installed at Kings Island, a third generation ride, was the second third generation drop ride built by Intamin, and the first one built in the United States.

Actually, Twistin to the Sixties last year at the International Showplace actually had a couple band members for instrumentals.

Yep. I believe they sign showed up in 1996, promoting the ride. Obviously, the park changed their minds and opted for a major expansion of WaterWorks, including adding the wave pool. Drop Zone and Face Off debuted in 1999 as part of the two year $35 million investment that culminated with the installation of another major ride in Action Zone. A ride which has caused the park many headaches so far in its short tempermental lifetime. Sometimes offspring go through some difficult growing pains, and Son of Beast would definitely fit that bill. The Frog Hopper ride at Coney (installed in 2003), was manufactured by S&S Power, the same people responsible for the Power Tower at Cedar Point. Between the Frog Hopper and Plankton`s Plunge, the Frog Hopper is far superior due to it having more of a "bounce" then the Zamperla made Plankton`s Plunge. Kings Island would NOT install another one of these rides in the park, specifically one in Coney Mall. These rides are NOT high capacity rides. The Frog Hopper only can handle seven people per ride cycle.

Italian Job is a ride that has been a relatively big success for the park. Granted the location they out it in was terrible, but park guests really seem to enjoy the ride. Yes, the ride may be short, but it is a fun little ride to ride. While you may feel that IJST should be removed from the park sooner rather then later, I think your opinion will be in the minority. Additionally, the ride is only three years old. It doesn`t have any significant downtimes every season, so reliability isn`t as big of an issue like it is with TR:TR. In summation, I would expect IJST, or Backlot Stunt Coaster, to be around for many many years to come.