CoastersRZ

Just so you know, Kings Island is NOT open this Friday. The park is open Saturday, Sunday and Monday only. In years past, the park had been open on the Friday of Labor day weekend, but crowds were understandably extremely light, and the park likely did not make much money on that day. Again don`t plan on going to Kings Island this Friday and riding any rides, as the park is closed that day.

Well, if you are looking for an alternative to Kings Island, Coney usually has light crowds on Sunday of Labor day weekend. I`ve worked that day for each of the last five years. In case some of you have not been to Coney, it can be a different change of pace from some of the scream machines at Kings Island, not to mention the fact that it has some classic rides that aren`t found at a lot of major theme parks anymore.

It actually goes through the exit for White Water Canyon, and not the actual queue line. The actual queue line has a series of stairs to get up to the bridge that crosses the train tracks. The exit on the other hand has a series of ramps that lead up to the bridge. And, they like to place lots of fog machines on the bridge that goes over WWC. It is almost impossible to see a foot in front of you on that bridge, let alone any scaracter that might be lurking to shriek at you!

I`ll throw this little tidbit out there. When FearFest was last an upcharge attraction in 2002, pass holders could purchase a ticket to get in for $18.99. I don`t recall what they charged for people without a pass, but I seem to recall that it was $19.99 or $20.99.

Yes, I too have noticed that Drop Zone has had some walk on lines this season, while other rides have average wait times. However, how much of this is strictly related to the amount of press that the incident down in Kentucky got? Will people return to this ride next year as the news about the Kentucky Kingdom incident fades from people`s minds? Only time will tell. But I think that Drop Zone won`t be leaving Kings Island any time in the near future.

And since 2008 Wonderland passes are NOT valid for the remainder of the 2007 season, that means that if you renew your Wonderland 2007 pass, you will have to keep it, in order to get into the park for the remainder of the 2007 season. It would be ridiculous, if they require you to turn in your 2007 pass when you purchase a 2008 pass and say, sorry, your new pass doesn`t begin working until NEXT year. I know that Cedar Fair passes have always only been valid for the season in which they were issued. But, at Kings Island, the season passes have always been valid for admission for the last several weeks of the preceding season. I have to wonder if this practice at Kings Island has run its course. I suspect that this is more of Cedar Fair`s pricing integrety approach to admission into their parks.

But, take note that the back of the pass also states "This Pass also does not include admission to park areas not open to the general public or special park areas and events across all Cedar Fair, L.P. parks that require a separate admission fee including but not limited to Knott`s Halloween Haunt, Carowinds` Scarowinds, and Canada`s Wonderland FearFest." So while it doesn`t specifically mention Kings Island`s October event, the above definition gives the park the ability to charge pass holders for the event and not have it be included in the season pass program.

Yeah. The unit price has not been too kind to Cedar Fair in the last month or so. It was trading at around $30 not so long ago. Now it is down to just under $26 a unit.

Don`t count on a another major attraction next year guys. Keep in mind, that Cedar Fair doesn`t exactly have a lot of extra cash to be throwing around. And the shiny new ride they are building up in Canada will likely eat up a lot of their capital expenditures budget. In short, there might not be enough money to go around for all the parks to get new rides next year. Improvements? Yes. I`m sure we`ll see some general park improvements next year at Kings Island at the very least. But don`t get your hopes up for another new coaster on the heels of Firehawk.

Why is it odd that they have some supports for Behemoth in the IJ ride area? This ride definately looks like it will be one fun ride! The new B&M seats remind me somewhat of the seating arrangement that can be found on the Super Invertigos that were made by Vekoma for Six Flags. Here is an example of one of the cars for Deja Vu promoting the ride before it opened. The cars will definately allow for a more open feel, as you won`t have the headrest from the row in front of you about two feet from your head! With the addition of Behemoth, it means that of the former Paramount Parks, all of them will now have a B&M creation, except for the two Kings parks. Obviousely, I am referring to Kings Dominion and Kings Island. And, if rumors turn out to be true, Kings Dominion may get a second hand B&M coaster for next season, leaving only Kings Island without a B&M creation! Hopefully, in the coming years, Cedar Fair will install a B&M creation at Kings Island. Personally, I wouldn`t mind seeing a hyper coaster from B&M like Wonderland is getting! A tall, fast steel coaster without any inversions would be an instant hit at Kings Island and appeal to all those people that don`t like to go upside down on roller coasters. Well, if you do the math, 18 months of planning and construction, assuming an opening of May 2008, that puts the start of planning at January of this year. Obviousely well after the time in which Cedar Fair took over control of the park. And as has been said countless times before, Cedar Fair did not honor the plans that CBS/Paramount Parks had for the parks. What they did honor, however, was the amount of capital budgets spent on the parks. Ie, Cedar Fair didn`t reduce the amount of money they spent on the Paramount Parks, but simply changed the product mix.

Well, I doubt that Cedar Fair has the money right now to persuade the Resort to drop the Kings Island from its name. And, I doubt Cedar Fair has enough money to build a hotel at Kings Island right now. In an ideal world, I would venture to say that the property the Kings Island Resort sits on is very appealing to Cedar Fair to build a new hotel there, due to its close proximity to the park.

Now that is a VERY misleading headline! Had they tacked on 'resort' to the headline, then people would might have known that it was not actually Kings Island involved in the situation. But still, it does bring up a valid issue. Negative PR for the Kings Island Resort and Conference Center, as this article clearly indicates, can be mistrued as negative publicity for the park itself as well/

No, I totally agree with you. In fact, on Kings Island`s website just four days ago, it specifically stated: "Free with park admission." I believe that it might also have been mentioned, as you make note of, in mailings and on park maps. It will be interesting to see what, if any, price they charge for Halloween Haunt this year. I was actually referring to songbob`s post where he stated that he believes that KI will be completely emptied of the day guests before it reopens. I was simply wondering where he heard this at, because they only did it this was the first two years of FearFest. It created a logistical nightmare at the front gates as those leaving the park were exiting at the same time as those trying to enter for FearFest. They ended up hoarding everyone leaving the park through the old season pass entrance, while the front gates were used as the entrance for FearFest.

And where did you hear that from? The park hasn`t even released details about how the pricing will work for this year. Yes, FearFest was an upcharge from its inception in 2000 through the 2002 season. In 2000 and 2001, they completely emptied the park, then let those who had FearFest tickets in. In 2002, anyone who bought a FearFest ticket was given a FearFest wristband, that got them into the haunted attractions. I feel that charging some extra money could be a good thing. It would get those parents to take their kids out of the park when darkness begins to fall. (Numerous times last year I saw parents screaming at the scaracters to tone it down so that their kids weren`t screaming, ruining the experience for everyone else.) But on the flip side, having visited FearFest in 2001 and 2002, I can say that it was generally more crowded after they included it with park admission and season passes. Not to mention that there were a lot more people buying food and playing games once it got dark. As long as they don`t pull another WinterFest with the pricing, they should be fine. Although, having been included with general admission and season passes for the last several years, if they decide to make it an upcharge, it might be a tough PR battle.

Actually, DeLorean Rider, Vortex (and Adventure Express) were down to two train operation last year by October 7th. That is when the Southern Ohio ACE region held Beast Bash. We got to go through several of the maintenance shops, including the steel coaster maintenance shop. For picture proof, you can check out this page on my personal website, or head over to the KIC gallery for Beast Bash 2006 here.

I wouldn`t say that Christmas stuff starts showing up immediately after Labor day. But it seems every year the Christmas stuff comes out sooner and sooner. Cedar Fair tried the cheaper cotton candy prices at Cedar Point last year. But it is hard to sell something for so cheap when they are trying to increase the guests per capita spending. In short, guests weren`t buying enough of it to make up the cost difference, so they raised the price. And with Cedar Fair taking on the additional huge amount of debt when they bought Paramount Parks, they need to try and make every nickel and dime they can!

But was that before or after P&G day went from strictly being held on Saturday to being held on both Saturday and Sunday like it is now?

On Flight Commander, guests in line would enter the ride area from the inside via a set of stairs in the center of the ride area. This opening in the center and in the queue line was recently filled in when they added the Eurobungee. Here is a picture from the History Section that shows the filled in portion of Flight Commander`s old queue. That is why if you are on the Eurobungee ride area, you will see newer concrete in the center, and older concrete along the exterior.

I would like to see the final show. However, I have to work at Coney from noon to 9 today, so I will not be able to make it.

Actually, I believe that they were trying for the exact opposite effect. After all, Halloween Haunt was the original name of Knott`s Berry Farm`s annual October event. And that event will be in its 35th season this year! I really much preferred the name FearFest, and the FearFest logo. But what are we going to do? Cedar Fair since they bought the Paramount Parks, has seemed to want to try and build brand recognition. Just look at the fact that they came out with the same style of park logos for the Paramount Parks, and even some of the legacy parks.

Not sure I like the new name. Too wordy. Halloween Haunt, or Scare Fair. But not both. I can`t say I`m not surprised this change is coming with the name. After they renamed Kings Dominion`s FearFest to Halloween Haunt and Scarowinds to Scarowinds` Halloween Haunt, I`m not shocked if this change turns out to become fact. Even Worlds of Fun renamed HalloWeekends to Halloween Haunt.

The park brought in temporary speakers for the parade. However, they also utilized the existing speakers in the areas of the park for the parade soundtrack. Upon my most recent visit to Kings Island this past Sunday, I noticed that they have replaced several of the old speakers that used to reside atop the Games building in Coney Mall with new speakers. As an aside, the Nickelodeon Celebration Parade that has spent all summer at Carowinds is hitting the road. It is going across the country, and will finish out the remainder of the season at Great America, out in California.

Very interesting! I wonder if scales will become standard on similar Proslide water slides. Or if this is just the Kentucky Department of Agriculture being overly cautious in regards to recent events at the same park.

Yep. I don`t know how many times I`ve heard the "But he rode it this morning, yesterday, last week, last year" excuse from parents. What amazes me the most is working the Rock O Plane at Coney when I tell parents that their kid is too short to ride. They have to be 48" to ride. And the sign that has the height requirements on it is right next to the entrance where I check heights. When I tell them their kid is too short to ride, the most asked question I receive is "They can`t even ride it if they`re going with me?"

Yeah, don`t doubt my knowledge with Coney. Being in my sixth year there, I know quite a lot about it!