CoastersRZ

Well, when I rode Firehawk on Saturday, they had two laptops hooked up to the ride computer, near the control panel, to trouble shoot any issues that would arise.

Gabriel, we waited about five hours to ride Firehawk the first time! I`d say the ride is definitely worth the wait. Hopefully, when they get two train operation going, the line will be a little more reasonable.

Avatar, the front "face" of the band organ is still there. But if you look from the sides, you can clearly see that the inner workings of the band organ are no longer present (or at least not in playing position). Also, on my ride aboard the carousel last week, they did not have the lights on on the band organ facade.

A stand up coaster? That is one ride that was really a fad that has long since passed. I don`t even find Mantis at Cedar Point to be an enjoyable ride. Too much force causes my legs to hurt on that ride. I would much rather have ridden King Cobra than Mantis any day. I HIGHLY doubt we see any stand up coasters built. At KI or any other park for that matter.

Well, look at how old the band organ is. Even if they provided routine daily maintenance for it, it would eventually need to receive an overhaul. After all, it was built ninety years ago. And I wouldn`t say that CBS/Paramount only spent money where it could see a ROI. After all, they have had the guy that repairs and renovates the carousel horses on staff. They also renovated the Royal fountains several years ago. So I`d hardly say that they didn`t invest in upkeep of the rides.

Yes, that is correct. I was asking Ryan a few days ago if he knew what was going on with the band organ. Perhaps they are simply doing a complete renovation of it that is requiring some extensive time.

Goof grief! Is a free shirt for the first 2500 riders on Firehawk this weekend not good enough for you? The park didn`t even have to do that!

In the morning? I don`t think they open the parking lots until 9am.

If there is anything lacking at KI, it is roaming live performers like the KI Clown band. They provided an unexpected entertainment opportunity and helped make the atmosphere of the park more magical. This was part of what made Winterfest seem magical. They had roaming magicians that helped increase the great atmosphere. Its just ashame that they priced them selves out of the market.

I don`t recall seeing any lockers outside of the ride area for Firehawk. That is a very valid issue. I know that when the ride was up north, you were not allowed to enter the line with any loose articles. There aren`t exactly any lockers close to Firehawk. I guess the closest are the ones by Tomb Raider: The Ride? Or perhaps the ones over by Viking Fury. Not exactly convenient for guests jetisoning loose articles before embarking on a flight aboard Firehawk.

Actually, on Sunday, they had one of the trains parked on the storage track. The other one was parked on the lift. But I think that was due to them doing some work in the station, and not necessarily any indication that the ride will only open with one train.

Well, first of all, Saturday is still five days out. Secondly, isolated does not mean that it will rain all day everywhere in the city. As is usually the case when it gets warm in the summer in Cincinnati, the day time heating can lead to pop up thunderstorms in the afternoons that usually last about half an hour or so before moving on.

Alright. KICentral historian here to shed some light on the Kings Island Carousel and a little bit about its history. As Ryan said, the Carousel was built by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1926 and is #79. The ride is 80 feet in diameter, and features 48 hand carved horses, 28 of which go up and down. In the flood of 1937, some of the Carousel horses floated down the Ohio River. Remarkably, all were recovered, some as far away as Paducah, KY. Kings Island has a guy on staff who refurbishes the Carousel horses (the park owns several extra horses). Here is a picture of two of the horses being restored from the behind the scenes tour last October during Beast Bash. The band organ (that at least used to) reside on the ride is a Wurlitzer Duplex Military Band Organ Style #157 that was built in 1918. Only twenty of this type of band organ were built. and only a handful (two or three) remained on Carousels, prior to the disappearance of KI`s. The band organ originally operated on a carousel at Ocean Grove, New Jersey. It was purchased in 1964 by Paul Eakins and completely restored. It joined PTC #79 when the ride was moved from Coney Island to Kings Island. The organ stands almost eight and a half feet tall, over twelve feet wide and nearly four feet deep. Instruments on the band organ included: Bass - 6 wood trombones; 6 stopped diapason pipes; 6 stopped octave diapason pipes. Accompaniments - 10 stopped flute pipes; 10 open flute pipes; 10 open piccolo pipes; 10 open piccolo pipes. Melody - 44 violin pipes; 22 octave pipes; 22 piccolo pipes; 22 open flute pipes; 22 stopped flute pipes; 16 bar bells. Trumpets - 14 wood trumpets; 14 wood clarinets. Traps - bass drum; snare drum; cymbal; triangle; double castanets; tympani. Automatic stops - 1 for bells; 1 for swell and wood trombones. Draw stops - 1 for wood trombones; 1 for wood trumpets; 1 for violins; 1 for flutes; 1 for piccolos. If the band organ has ceased to operate on the Carousel, it truly is a sad thing, as the CD recording that they have playing is no where near as rich of a sound (or as classic) as the sound that used to be produced by the band organ.

Well, even when an opening date is set for the ride it doesn`t guarantee the ride will run all day without any glitches. It being a new ride, it will be prone to some down time the first couple of days it is open.

Yes, the picnic area is still outside the front gates.

That actually wasn`t a change instituted by Cedar Fair. That process had begun under CBS. When your pass is scanned (both at the parking tolls and at the gates), your picture will appear in the monitor, and the associate has to then verify that you are in fact the person that is shown on the monitor.

Right, I`ve known that the music has been replaced by CD recording of carousel music. I was wondering if the core elements of the band organ were still in existence, or whether it is no longer in working order.

Well, I attended one of the alternate math and science days back when I was a senior in high school. (It was the last field trip I took, and on the final week of classes). Crowds were on the light side. First ride of the day was Face Off, with a minimal wait. Granted, this was back in 2003. I`d say crowds will be on the light side. But as others have said, it all depends how many buses show up at the park.

A couple comments. The Dodgems building was just repainted a couple of years ago. (2004 or 2005 I believe. Granted, thats not to say that there hasn`t been peeling paint or vandalism of the ride. But I`d say for the most part, that the park has looked good this year. There is lots of new paint all over the place. Shake Rattle and Roll, the main entrance buildings, the midway games buildings in Coney Mall, to name a few. Are there still shortcomings? Sure. But I think the park looks a lot better than it did last year.

Well, relocating maintenance buildings would be an expensive proposition, one I don`t see the park doing anytime soon. Why tear down a perfectly good building for future development, when they have lots of undeveloped land to build upon. Besides, we don`t want the park focusing all their attention on one area of the park. Look at what happened with Action Zone, with a similar condition of only one entrance and exit to that area of the park.

Except for the fact that all the maintenance buildings are immediately to the east of the X-Base midway.

Seeing as how the new trains for Son of Beast have yet to make their way onto the ride, I`d say the reopening of the ride is several weeks off (four or more), at a minimum.

It looks like there is only gravel in areas where the ride is close to the ground (ie by the loop and base of the lift hill). The rest of the ride area, as of yesterday is still dirt. Either they will place gravel there, or end up planting grass.

While you may not have liked to see the park that crowded from an enthusiast stand point. I`m sure the park was more than pleased with the crowds that showed up. After all, larger crowds means more people spending money in the park! Hey, Cedar Fair has to pay off the acquisition while still paying the cash distribution to their unit holders somehow.

Well, there are no pictures of this, but the support structure for the shading devices in the queue will likely remind you of ones found at the park up north. They are not like the big shading devices that the park installed for the IJST and Delirium queue.