CoastersRZ

Is this in the tent that previousely held the Nick parade floats? It is not necessarily extra early. Stuff normally shows up towards the end of August and is in full swing shortly after Labor Day.

Kodak was no longer a sponsor of the park by the time TR:TR opened. The posts at the TR:TR exit were advertising the on ride photos from the ride. Steamhogger, not sure what you did, but the images you linked to in the photo gallery aren`t showing up. I`m assuming that the image you wanted to show up in the Engine #12 link was this one. And the trestle picture was this one.

At least we know that the park is working on the issues as opposed to not worrying about the on board audio.

A few things. The reason that the walkbacks have gone back there, is because there is literally a sea of people sitting right where the ACE walkback used to meet. Normally, we would enter the park right next to first Aid, and not through the cut through. Secondly, in past years, we would sneak by Oscar`s (now Backstage Cafe) but that was when more of the park was open from 9-10. It really depends which employee from GR is walking ACE members back. I was there on Sunday, and we just ducked under the ropes and got tons of rude looks, as is to be expected. And all the times I`ve done the ACE walkback this year, it has been to The Beast or IJST. (On Sunday we went to The Beast, but they weren`t ready so we walked over to Vortex.) I don`t think that Cedar Fair will completly neglect Kings Island. They haven`t neglected any of there other parks. Yeah, they make take a year off an not add anything, but they are not going to go five years without adding anything. A lot of the cuts that were made were with duplicate positions. Although I was a little surprised to hear that Bill Balfour, who was in charge of entertainment and special events at the park was let go.

The sound system on the train was added for WinterFest. While WinterFest won`t be returning, it is nice to have the new speakers on the train, because as you stated, they are pretty nice speakers.

Well, on most of the coasters at KI, the count is conducted by whoever is driving the coaster. In fact, many of the flat rides in Coney mall used to have turnstiles either at the entrance (Scrambler and I think Monster) or at the exit (Shake Rattle and Roll). They however have since gotten rid of those turnstiles. Yes, it is annoying that they make you get off for re-rides. But remember, this used to be policy at Kings Island a few years ago as well. (It is policy on Flight of Fear and IJST). Also, if you are at The Beast doing marathons, several instances I have encountered the crew saying that the limit is two re-rides before you have to get off. I totally agree with that rule as after a couple spins, it is not a bad thing to take a little breather. Although some of the best ERT I`ve had on The Beast is when I got six or seven rides in a row without getting off of the train. Yes, it is a bad rule to not be able to take pictures in any ride line. When I was up there in 2002, when it was Six Flags Worlds of Adventure, I didn`t encounter any problems with taking pictures. Either from the exit of the ride or while in line. Hopefulyl this does not occur at Kings Island, or as otohers have stated, there will be many dissapointed people, and not just us enthusiasts.

That is his point. They no longer say Paramount on them, which is an indication that Cedar Fair intends not to keep the Paramount name attached to the park`s name beyond this season. As such, when they reorder merchandise, they are reordering merchandise without the Paramount moniker.

Yeah, those are valid points Interpreter. And the point is even more exasberated with Son of Beast down. With lower capacity rides, more people are stuck in ride lines on busy days, and thus not on the midways spending money. A reason why higher capacity rides are important.

That link is dead.

If I had to guess, I`d say that most of the people that were cut were likely in the accounting/business side of things at the park. But that is a pure guess.

Not to mention that Cedar Fair still hasn`t updated the "Properties" section of their website. It still says that they own seven amusement parks and has no mention of the Paramount Parks.

Well, I heard that there was another entity that was in serious contention with Cedar Fair to get the parks from CBS. So my guess is that Cedar Fair ended up being the highest bidder. It would be interesting to see what other parties offered to buy the parks from CBS.

That is an old FearFest logo, as they were only teamed up with WEBN for one season I believe, in 2002.

Yeah, I would think that the article would be in error. So is this guy now in charge of the entire Northern region of parks? Or did they subdivide the northern region since it is the largest region.

Huh? During the conference call, Cedar Fair said that they had split the parks into three divisions. They were the Northern region: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Canada`s Wonderland, Geauga Lake, Dorney Park, Valleyfair and Michigan`s Adventure. The Southern region includes Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Worlds of Fun. The Western region includes Knott`s Berry, Farm, Great America, and the Soak City water parks. In future press releases and conference calls, they will refer to those regions. So are the regional managers in charge of parks seperate from the regional managers? Especially odd that he is in charge of parks in both the Southern and Northern regions.

But see, Cedar Fair understands that they simply can`t raise the season pass price beyond what a majority of the customers can afford. Cedar Fair is big on in park spending, and cheaper passes encourage in park spending. While they will probably be more expensive than they have been in past years, I doubt they will be drastically higher. Hopefully they release the season pass details soon, as in past years, season pass sales were already under way or about to begin.

Why would they screw the KI season pass holders next year, simply because they have a large debt load?

Not to mention that there are a few Skyline`s down in Florida, and some as far away as Michigan. And Graeter`s has been known to be ordered by Oprah Winfrey as one of her favorite ice creams (although other than their online store, they are strictly based in the Cincinnati area).

Yes, Cedar Fair will have some struggles ahead of them. But they have proven to be successful at what they do. I don`t know if I would say that they hurried to buy the Paramount Parks, but they did take on a large risk by buying the parks. A risk that will take a while before they realise how well the new parks fit into their portfolio. Hopefully, they will not be forced to cut their dividene payments. It is pretty remarkable that they have raised them every year for the past 19 years. Also, hopefully, as the article suggests, they won`t have to cut capital expenditures at the parks to help pay off their debt/pay out their dividends.

Something other than theme park food? When was the last time you visited Kings Island? LaRosa`s, Skyline, Chick-Fil-A, Subway, and Graeter`s are not "theme park" food. Granted all these places offer limited menus and have the typical outrageous theme park prices, but they are still not your average run of the mill theme park food.

2003 was an off year for FearFest in my opinion. That was the first year they made it included with park admission and season passes. As a result, they thought that they should remove most of the fog and actors from the midway as not to scare families with small children. Obviosely, that idea was not very well received by the general public. Last year`s Fear Fest was one of the best in my opinion because they had scare zones on the midways in addition the haunted houses. The overall atmosphere in the park was wonderful during the nightly portion of Fear Fest. Yes, some of the houses were hampered last year by ushers feeding a contininous line of people through. They did this to try and alleviate the extremely long lines of some of these haunts, primarily Psycho Path. But the net result was that the experience of each haunt was greatly hindered by this action. From things I have been hearing, there are going to be some major changes to FearFest this year, that will make it an even better event. It is definantely worth a trip up to the park in October. Besides, some of the major rides are open until midnight on Saturday nights providing ample time for night rides.

I haven`t heard anything official about that. Although I seem to recall that they might offer some sort of promotion like that during the winter months when their occupancy isn`t as high.

Yeah, Johnny Rockets has the 50 styles theme, and would actually fit in quite well as a replacement for Happy Days Diner. There is a Johnny Rockets over in Kenwood across the street from Kenwood Town Center.

There are a few rides that will not be in operation. The primary ride will be The Scrambler. The ride area is used as part of the queue area for what was Fear Street last year. Also, White Water Canyon is usually not open in the month of October (who would really want to get that wet in October), but the Whild Thornberrys River Adventure will be open. The train will have long waits both during the day and during the night. During the day, it is part of Pumpkin Patch Express. And then at night, as least for last year, they used the train as a transportion device back to the White Water Canyon queue where they then used the White Whater Canyon exit as a haunt themed to Sleepy Hollow.

Well the section in question is somewhere in the rosebowl (the first helix). Cedar Fair has not said what they plan to do with the ride. But the State of Ohio has said that before it reopens to the public, the portion of the ride in question must be rebuilt under the supervision of a state hired engineer. I would not look for Son of Beast to reopen any time in the rest of this season.