CoastersRZ

Trust me, the Ferris Wheel is a lot more sensitive to balance issues. If you aren`t careful with the Wheel, you can cause it to start smoking, throw hot grease, or even get the cables crossed on the drive wheels! Oddly enough, a lot of people comment about Coney`s Ferris Wheel as being the fastest Ferris Wheel they`ve ever ridden/seen. Which probably explains why so many people end up tossing their cookies on that ride. Surprisingly, I`ve had more people get sick on the Ferris Wheel this year than I have on the Rock O Plane.

Yes, most of Coney`s rides are trailer mounted (Tempest, Spin A Ree, Racing Rockets, Trabant, Giant Slide and the Flying Bobs). No, these rides are not completely taken apart in the winter. As is usual, cars that can be taken off, will be taken off in the winter (ie all the Ferris Wheel cars, Scrambler cars etc.) But they do not completely take the ride apart in the off season as if they were being moved to a new site. The one exception this year is the Giant Slide, which has been temporarily relocated to the Sunlite Pool parking lot and will find a new home somewhere within the park next season. Its former home is being transformed into a new Riverbend Pavilion. The Rock O Plane is some what difficult to operate, but it is less challenging than the Ferris Wheel. Of the two rides, which are both cable driven, the Ferris Wheel can get off balance easier, and it also has twelve cars compared to the Rock O Plane`s eight cars.

Certainly. Rock O Plane As can be seen on that page, the Rock O Plane opened at Coney this season. It was manufactured by the Eyerly Aircraft Corporation (the same manufacturer that also built the Monster at Kings Island). It opened at LeSourdsville Lake in 1949. I have had the privilege of operating the Rock O Plane numerous times this year. It is one intense little ride if you can get those tubs rocking upside down!

Well, the Rock O Plane, which is new to Coney this season, came from LeSourdsville Lake. (The ride opened there in 1949). The ride was completely repainted for this season. Additionally, the Tempest, opened in 2001 at Coney, was also relocated from LeSourdsville Lake. Other than those two rides, I don`t think any other rides came from LeSourdsville Lake. I know that the Tilt-A-Hurl came from neighboring Fantasy Farm. I know that most of Coney`s rides are used (the Eli Bridge Ferris Wheel dates back to 1947 for example), but I do not know where all the rides used to reside at before taking up residence at Coney. I do know that the Frog Hopper, and Scream Machine were purchased new direct from the manufacturer.

Sorry. I guess I took one too many spins on Face Off today to catch your humor.

I agreed with PKIVortex that Kings Island started painting Vortex in 2001 so that it looked better for the year that Tomb Raider opened in 2002. And then jessie8 comes along two posts later and says, incorrectly, that Vortex was painted in 2005.

Good grief. Do people not read posts?

I will have some tomorrow. Other random things I discovered today. They have lots of skeletons dressed up in random places throughout the park. At the base of the Eiffel Tower is a Dorothy and Wicke Witch skeleton with a small doll house with legs sticking out from underneath it. Over by the Paramount Theater is a skeleton wearing a Bengals jersey. Right near there, is a dog house and dog skeleton. The dog house has a name written on it, which would happen to be Vick. The ride tombstones that were on International Street last year, have found their way over to Rivertown from the train station, down to The Beast entrance. Also, over in Coney Mall, they brought out some of the airplanes that were removed from what is now Blue`s Skidoo. In the airplanes, of course, are skeletons.

Yes, I was at the park today for P&G day, and they have several of the Phantom Theater characters out on Coney Mall.

Yep. They indeed did start painting Vortex during the 2001 season, as PKIVortex has stated.

Well, if any one who hasn`t been to Coney gets a chance, I strongly recommend that they visit it. Yes, it is a small park and doesn`t have any big roller coasters. But it does have a decent collection of flat rides. I mean, what other local park has bumper boats, or a Tempest, or a Flying Bobs, or a Trabant or even a Rock O Plane? It is definitely worth a visit. Also, the prices aren`t outrageous either. Keep in mind that the rides will be open at Coney the last weekend for one last weekend this year, in September for the Falloween & Farm Festival. Admission is $9 and the rides are open from noon-6 each day. I`ll likely be working the rides both of those days.

Interesting article. Although, Channel 5 is perhaps the worst television station in the Cincinnati area, IMO. Did anyone see their terrible coverage of the WEBN Cincinnati Bell Fireworks over Labor day weekend?

Actually, it is Cedar Fair, LP not LLC. An LP is a limited partnership. An LLC is a limited liability corporation. There are differences in the way each is set up. A limited partnership is similar to a partnership. Each of the unit holders, or limited partners, has a limited stake in the company, and thus shares the profits and liabilities for their stake of the partnership (or the amount of units they control). A limited liability corporation is a form of a corporation, that offers limited liability to its respective owners. SmaI don`t know the exact differences beyond what I stated above, but am sure that there are tax implications for each system.

Gee, higher season pass prices and less comp tickets leads to LESS revenue. I know that Cedar Fair is all about maintaining their pricing integrity, but it seems to me that if the decrease in revenues as a result of less comp tickets is in the order of $2.6 million, then those guests are contributing quite a lot to the bottom line. Also, not mentioned in this release is the fact that while overall per caps is up, season pass visits for the month of August were down. They attributed this to higher pass prices. But I personally think that it might actually be tied to higher in park prices. Yes, the passes were a little bit more expensive this year, but the fact that the food prices are so outrageous at Kings Island (and the quality certainly not in line with the pricing strategy) may have prompted some of the pass holders to spend less time and money at the parks this summer. Also, while the per caps may be up, that does not necessarily mean guests are buying additional products. Rather, they are buying the same things that they used to buy. But due to the price increases, they are having to fork over more money. I have to wonder how high will the in park prices go before Cedar Fair realized that they could potentially make more money off of the guests if the guests don`t feel like they are going for a ride everytime they buy some food or drink. Alright, enough with my insights and opinions.

Well, since I have worked at Coney now for six seasons (very hard to believe), I thought I`d create this poll to see how many of you have visited Coney. So, if you have visited Coney, what did you think of the park? Do you plan on going back? How was your experience there? What was your favorite ride?

And what`s that supposed to mean? Not everything at Cedar Point is red. Look at Wicked Twister, or Millenium Force. (Although Millenium does have a lot of red used in its station if my memory serves me correct.)

That is why I find it odd. If they do not intend to bring back WinterFest, then why haven`t they removed them from the lake?

I wouldn`t necessarily say that WinterFest in `05 was a half hearted attempt. I thought it was really well done. The parade, the Holiday Illuminations show, the Toy Factory show in the Paramount Theater and the train ride were all wonderfully done. The problem that they had was they simply charged way too much for the event. $25 per person to get in when The Beach had an event right across the street where pass holders got in free, and the general public only had to pay $10 is what doomed WinterFest. Although, having been to Holiday Fest last year, WinterFest offered much more activities, and an overall more festive environment. I just think that with all that Cedar Fair had on their plate, they opted to concentrate on their core season. I think that had they had the right pricing strategy for WinterFest, it could have provided them with some extra cash in an otherwise dorment time of year. Heck, had they charged pass holders $5 to get in, I`m sure they would have done a lot steadier business then what they did, trying to charge them in the range of $18 a piece. Sadly, I doubt we will ever see WinterFest at Kings Island again. However, I do find it odd that the barge that held the large Christmas trees for Holiday Illuminations remains in Swan Lake, more than a year after Kings Island canceled WinterFest for a second time.

When Great American Financial Corp. purchased Taft Broadcasting in 1987, they also purchased Coney Island. Carl Lindner controlled Great American Financial Corp. at that point in time. Taft Broadcasting was then renamed Great American Communications Co. Ronald Walker had been an associate of Carl Lindner. He purchased the park from Great American Communications Co. in 1991 for $3.8 million. Incidently, that is the price that Taft had hoped to sell Coney for back when it closed after the 1971 season. Ronald Walker died unexpectedly in 1997. But his wife Brenda continues to own Coney to this day.

Yes, the park will be open on Sunday September 23rd to the general public and season pass holders. You are also correct in your assumption that Halloween Haunt will NOT be going on that day (nor will Nick-or-Treat).

After a very brief debut back in July, Coney Island Central has now relaunched with a new look. This subsite of Kings Island Central is dedicated to Coney Island, Kings Island`s predecessor. www.coneyisland.KICentral.com If you have any historical pictures of Coney Island that you would be willing to contribute to the site, please feel free to do so, and credit will of course be given.

I will likely go for the gold next year as far as my season pass goes. I likely won`t get to any other Cedar Fair parks next summer, so to upgrade to Platinum wouldn`t make much sense for me.

Sigh, I remember the webcam that they used to have on pki.com. It used to show I-Street, or would be pointed at Nick Central towards the log flume and Runaway Reptar. But Kings Island hasn`t had that webcam on their website since around 2001 or 2002. I definitely think that a webcam looking down Coney Mall would be a wise location for a webcam.

Yep, I can confirm that next weekend is P&G`s weekend at Kings Island. As my dad works for P&G, I will get to go to the park next weekend. Coney also gets in on the private company events as well. For instance, today Coney was only open to Children`s Hospital employees and their families (all 20,000 of them).

And not all of the increases in the height requirements and additional seat belts is purely motivated by trying to avoid lawsuits. More likely, it is in response to try and keep insurance costs (including liability insurance) for the park down. More stringent safety requirements equates to less chance of injuries occurring and insurance having to be used.