CoastersRZ

Yep, that is a concrete pump`s boom. Not a crane, just a way to get concrete into a hard to reach area of a site from the mixer truck.

Thanks for the kind words, Pilotank. I remember all of our rides employees coming into the rides office with Kettle Corn. Good memories. I made it a solid twenty seasons at Coney. The ironic thing is that I applied there back in 2002 for my first job because it was closer to my house than Kings Island. My thinking at the time was that I would work one year at Coney, then work at Kings Island in rides the following season. One season turned to two, my brother and cousin worked there the second season (my cousin actually had a full time job there in maintenance and was one of the many people I know that still worked there that are now losing there jobs because of this). And before I knew it I had accumulated lots of seasons there. I agree, that given the right investment, the park could have been successful and remained a success. The kiddie ride, family amusement park segment is a good niche. Introduce the kids to rides, have a pool. Similar feel to what Stricker`s Grove is, but open to the public and with a swimming pool. Too bad the ownership wasn`t more involved to make it work. Especially with all the concert goers that walked through the park every year. Seemed like a lot of missed opportunities. I truly miss that, and the small town feel that Coney had. You would recognize the frequent pass holders, and even sometimes people from the same company picnics year in and year out. Such a bad ending to a Cincinnati institution. She deserved a better ending then what she is getting. Hopefully they can include some kind of tribute in the design of the new arena for Riverbend. I still wish I could go back to running the rides there. Fun Spot Orlando can make things work with just a bunch of smaller flat rides, go kart tracks and a small sized wooden coaster. I got to tour that location when I went down to Orlando last month for IAAPA for my work. I think a small park like that can still work in the Cincinnati area. It just needs someone with some capital to invest, and someone to know what they are doing to make it work. Will we ever see something like that? I doubt it, but I can dream, right.

I don`t know how to feel. I still miss the rides and was hopeful that one day the rides would make a come back. I feared that this day would come where it would cease to exist. It is really sad.

But it is not just temperatures that determine whether a ride is open. They need to factor in time to do the off season maintenance on the rides. Remember that the off seasons are typically the busy times of year for the maintenance departments. That is why they will typically rebuild one of Flight of Fear`s and Adventure Express`s third trains in the summer. Then in the off season, they only have to rebuild one train, so they can focus on other rides. Same reason why Mystic only runs two trains during Winterfest. They are starting the off season overhaul on the third train. If they had more rides open for Winterfest, it could mean that some rides might not be ready to run when the park opens in April. Would you rather have a ride like Diamonback open for Winterfest, but not open until Memorial day weekend in May?

I think that hits the nail on the head. The first thing I thought of was reduced maintenance and labor costs for essentially the same ride experience. The park still has an authentic steam engine running, so all is not lost. I know that Cedar Fair tracks things like maintenance costs per rider, etc. At least they are getting to keep the ride, and not just taking it out completely.

I will say that they seemed to have more trees wrapped with lights. Especially right outside the Festhaus as you navigate towards Adventure Port. Park looks fantastic.

I rode the train last night. Nothing new compared to last year. It does appear that they fixed up some of the 12 days lighted sets (and replaced light strands in some spots). Sadly, it still seems a little underutilized. I would love to see them decorate a couple of tress wrapped in lights like they did this year outside of the Festhaus. Last night Mystic Timbers was running two trains. Our train had to wait for the blue train to refill for water around 7:45, so we were sitting by Mystic`s break run for about ten minutes. Keep in mind, that compared to the original Winterfest, there are far more rides open now than there were back then. I do agree it would be nice to spice up some of the shows every year. At least with Tinker`s Toy Factory, they have had two versions. I love both of them. Last night we went to the 6:30 showing, and the place was just about at capacity. The line before the doors opened started past the back entrance to the Festhaus!

Interesting.

Yep. They don`t use paint sprayers because of the over spray on getting paint on other things below where they are painting. Baynum does everything with rollers and brushes.

Yes. But Dorney is not far from Hershey, and they do their own Christmas event. I have never been, but it seems successful. They don`t need to do it on as large of a scale as what they do at Kings Island, etc. Have some of the flat rides open, have a couple of shows, offer ice skating, etc. It would seem like they could pull something like that off. It may not bring in a ton of revenue, but a little bit of revenue is better than a fixed asset sitting unused.

And yet Dollywood just announced that they were adding 23 more operating days to their 2024 calendar. They are now open 280 days in 2024. https://hfe.widen.net/s/hm2pjhbzhb/24dw_opcal_festivals Without a festival and not being in a very touristy area, can`t say that I am too surprised that KD and Carowinds cut their year round hours. I am still a little surprised that they haven`t tried to bring Winterfest to any of the legacy Cedar Fair parks. Worlds of Fun had Winterfest, but have since discontinued it. Knott`s of course has something, but other than that, Winterfest is just held at the former Paramount Parks.

It would be nice to utilize that queue area for something other than a Haunt maze for six weeks out of the year. Filling that void and the Vortex plot would be welcome additions. Of course, I still think we will see something in the water park soon too.

And KI didn`t want to loose our original Flyers. Different company and regime at the time, but the decision to relocate them came from corporate. I have always believed that the Cedar Fair GMs have a lot of say of what capital gets spent at their parks, with input from corporate. I feel like at Six Flags, it is all controlled by corporate, and the GMs have very little say. Although Jeff Siebert, a former KI employee, seems to be bucking that myth/trend at his park (Six Flags Fiesta Texas).

I still love the atmosphere of a parade running through the park. Just creates some excitement and buzz. I know staffing it can be difficult. And I still don`t like how the parade "runs" back to its tent, after it has concluded on I-Street.

Yes, those pedal boats couldn`t turn left and right as quickly as the lazy river turned, so it often resulted in boats turned sideways. And whose idea was it to put pedal boats in a lazy river? I mean, at Coney, the footwells would often fill up with water and people`s shoes would get wet. Imagine that happening when it is 30 degrees outside! Yike! It will be interesting to see what becomes of the property now that there is a new owner. I know the Skyline near there has a new neighbor with a Texas Roadhouse. Speaking of that Skyline, it has some cool model train stuff inside of it.

Typically Haunt Saturday`s the park can get close to capacity. I know when I worked there back in 2013 and 2014 at Skyflyer during Haunt season, employees had to park out in the softball fields (past the water park) and they would shuttle us in, so that there were more spots for the guests.

I think that is overly optimistic. They have to pour foundations. And usually concrete needs about 28 days to reach 99% compressive strength. So its not like they can pour it Monday and set steel on it on Tuesday. It needs some time to cure and get its strength.

Exciting addition. I just made my first visit to Young`s this summer. Our kids loved it.

Just got back from Dollywood (Friday and Saturday). Yes, I believe that there are bins at all of the coasters. Big Bear Mountain is a wonderful ride. Very smooth, and has excellent pacing. My 4 year old daughter was tall enough to ride it and she loved it.

When Dorney Park removed Stinger (the former Invertigo from California`s Great America), they sent the train to Kings Island. The way I understand it is Kings Island has two Invertigo trains. They rebuild one in the summer months (which is the slower time of year for the maintenance teams). Then in the off season, all they have to do is take off the train on Invertigo`s track so it can be rebuilt the following summer. In the spring before the park opens they place the train that they rebuilt the previous summer on the tracks. Adventure Express and Flight of Fear operate somewhat similarly. Both rides have three trains, but only two are on the tracks in the normal season. In the summer seasons, the maintenance workers rebuild the third train. Then in the off season, they only have to rebuild one train for the following season, instead of two trains. Saves them on time during the off season rebuilding the trains, and the trains get some time off.

Yeah, I think for the crowds that Haunt draws, they need to increase the number of houses they have. Haven`t been this year yet, and with young kids I don`t know if I will make it up for Haunt this year or not.

I have yet to get a single pass perk for this season at Kings Island, and I have 19 visits so far this season...

I think part of the thing with Kentucky Kingdom, is the actual land is still owned by the Kentucky Fairboard. That could impact what things they do at that park. And they have only owned the park for two and a half years. It will be interesting to see what they replace T3 with. The park has potential, but there are a lot of constraints on it.

The one thing that immediately comes to mind, is Mystic Timbers. They could change the movie in the shed to something a little more sinister during Haunt with relative ease, I would imagine.

Where would you put the ice carvers and the toboggan tube slide? Having been to the Winterfest from 2005, the pathway in Octoberfest was pretty bare. They had decorations on Festhaus, and some on Bubba Gump`s at the time, but not much else. The current incarnation of Winterfest has a lot more decorations spread through the park then what the one back in 2005 had.