CoastersRZ

Well, to be fair, I think one of the biggest gripes that people had about Paramount was its lack of attention to the theming of a ride several years after it was built. Which is a valid criticism. In all honesty, for the first part of 2006, the park wasn`t owned by Viacom but CBS, following their split. CBS in hopes of getting rid of the parks did not want to spend extra money on the parks so they cut corners. Cuts that showed through to the paying customers. I think a lot of people will agree that Paramount (when it was alone or with Viacom) was much better at managing the parks than what CBS was.

There are special track pieces at the entrance and exit to the station, that have two pieces of track mounted to a cylinder. This cylinder spins, switching between the two track pieces, each of which serves a specific side of the station.

A couple comments that I observed from the pictures. In the picture of the helix and the station, you can see that they have poured the concrete topping in the station. That means that in a couple days when that is cured, the station will have its finished floor. Also, as others stated, there is not a lot of track that remains to be placed. There is not a doubt in my mind that all the steel will be in place by opening day (which is in less than fourteen days)

Yep. Ultimately, they will want to go with the company that offers them the most financial incentives. I would think that both Pepsi and Coke would want to be in the Cedar Fair parks, as that is a large captive audience to have. The combined Cedar Fair parks attracted how many people last year? Something like 18 million guests. That is a lot of people that would be drinking the perspective products. Although, I`ve heard that before Coke left the original Cedar Fair parks, they showed no interest in staying in those parks.

And like standard Chik-Fil-A Restaurants outside of the park, it is not open on Sundays.

Those are some awesome pictures! I know that I`ve never seen any of them before!

Yes, although, for the Eiffel Tower, it is based on people weighing 175 pounds. Hence the 6125 pound weight limit for the elevators (35 people).

It was also listed in the 2005 park map as being in Coney Mall. Heck, the entrance to the ride is not too far from where the old entrance to the Eagles were, which were part of Coney Mall.

Just an fyi, but Wings was being used as a buffet during FearFest last October.

Patience my friend. Rest assured that we will likely know about any possible new eateries at the park before opening day rolls around in two weeks.

Yes, the price of a 20 oz, to my knowledge was never $4.00 from a machine. I seem to recall that it was either $3.50 or 3.75 last year. And yes, Coke will be served at Kings Island for 2007. But will it be there in 2008? I certainly don`t know the answer to that question.

Not sure about passes bought online. But for the temporary passes, you should apparently be able to go up to any open ticket window and exchange the temporary pass for the permanent 2007 pass.

Yep. The polar opposite of cheap from what I`ve heard of the food prices at Carowinds and Kings Dominion.

Take this for what its worth. This is just my theory on the issue, but I`d imagine that on busier days, we might see the return of people directing you to a parking spot, like the park used to do years ago. Not sure if they will use the trams. On really busy days, they are useful to people parked in the Deep South lot.

Well, Kings Island has for Firehawk, been posting construction pictures to their website under the media center, to keep us and their customers up to date when the KIC staff can`t get access to get updates on the progress. And, Kings Island has done this in the past. Attractions like Italian Job, Nickelodeon Universe, Boomerang Bay, Delirium and Scooby Doo, and TR:TR all had construction pictures posted on pki.com. So KI does a fairly good job keeping people up to date on their website. And, with fan sites like KIC, we are able to further keep the public aware of changes and happenings that are occurring at the park. After all, it is the park that gives us permission to go on these tours to keep everyone up to date on the new attractions.

Well, I have a feeling that the price of food in the park will be changed this season. Although, it will likely be in the opposite direction that you were hoping for.

Yes, they have started putting the final coat of paint on the track and a couple of the supports. All the track on the north side of the lift (from just past the loop to the start of the brake run) still has to be installed. They`ve made great progress since last week. No official word on Son of Beast beyond what was described at Winter Soar. Which is to say that they hope to have the ride ready to roll this year. It was kind of odd seeing a lot of the flowers on International Street covered up with blankets and table cloths to protect them from the frost. It is supposed to get down to 23 degrees tonight.

I believe that they have removed the turnstyles from the exit of Shake, Rattle and Roll and gone to hand counters instead.

As with the other attendance figures, one has to wonder how accurate these figures are. I know that the ones that Amusement Business released were not the most accurate of numbers.

Nemov22, Firehawk is by no means an "inexpensive" ride for Kings Island to get. The entire capital budget for the park this season is $10 million, although not all of that is earmarked for Firehawk (I`ve heard about $7.5 million is for the relocation of Firehawk). Also, I think it is safe to assume that Steel Venom will find its way into another Cedar Fair park next year. But I don`t believe that will affect any of the former Paramount Parks. And why would they build a ride where you start in one place and end in another place? Granted, both Flight of Fear and IJ have separate load and unload platforms, but that is just to improve capacity of the rides.

Just for your information Kight31Woodmen, the GWL is the Great Wolf Lodge.

Yeah, I didn`t dislike HolidayFest, I just found that there was not a lot to do, and after about two hours, we had done everything. The biggest thing that was lacking from The Beach that KI had was live entertainment.

As I`ve said before, given the right price point, I think that WinterFest at Kings Island could be a way for Cedar Fair to bring in more money during a typically slow time for revenues. Part of the problem in 2005 was that they were simply charging too much for it. The live entertainment though was top notch. I don`t think it will be back this year, and maybe not even next year. But I wouldn`t be surprised, at some point, if Cedar Fair trys to bring it back again. Having been to The Beach`s Holiday Fest last year, I can say that WinterFest offered a lot more entertainment than what The Beach had. Just with Scrooge`s House, Toy Factory, and the train ride made WF better. Not to mention the parade, ice skating, roaming street performers, and the select rides that were open.

Yes, it can. And to my knowledge, Kings Island utilizes hand counters on most of the flat rides to keep track of attendance figures for the individual rides. For the coaster, it is incorporated into the control panels, I believe, with the driver keeping track of how many empty seats there are on each train that is dispatched.

Except that this isn`t an amusement park perse. It is a family entertainment center (FEC).