CoastersRZ

That person with the Paramount name tag is Greg Scheid, the new General Manager and Executive Vice President of Paramount`s Kings Island. Cedar Fair brought him in to replace Tim Fisher who was simply acting general manager until the parks were sold. He was previousely the general manager at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I seem to recall that is the amount that they currently charge for a DVD of your experience on EXtreme Skyflyer at Kings Island.

To the best of my knowledge the skid brakes were original to The Beast. It was one of the first coasters at PKI to be controlled using computers. When The Racer first opened, it too had skid brakes and was later retrofitted.

I think the announcement of Cedar Point`s new ride has absolutely nothing to do with the announcement at Kings Island. The only impact will be that they likely will not want to announce the rides at the same time of each other. Instead, they will likely want to spread ou the announcements so that the various parks are in the news for longer amounts of time.

Well, I never have met the guy, at least not yet. But he was at the Great Wolf press construction tour today as one of the keynote speakers as seen here.

Yep, nice update guys. That would have been an awesome tour to go on for me since I am majoring in architecture! But alas I had a class this morning.

Yeah, I was kind of surprised they never made any mention of it.

Yep, CoastersNSich got it right. Grege Scheid is in fact the new GM and Executive Vice President of Kings Island, according to this press release. He was previousely the general manager at Dorney Park.

Yeah, I find that kind of funny how they have place signs up saying what is not an employee entrance to the park because it passes by the GM`s office. The ironic thing is that on an ACE walkback a couple weeks ago, we avoided the throngs of guest that were waiting for the ropes to drop by the ACE brick and went into the park through this very entrance! The previous time, I was on the ACE walkback we had simply entered the park from the door next to the first aid carts. And I`m sure that something in the form of capital expansions is planned for next year.

Well, in the conference call, Dick Kinzel said that as is typical with Cedar Fair, they would be announcing the capital expenditures at the parks in the early part of the fall. So we might glean more information in September or October. But as has been said time and time again, do not expect much in the way of blockbuster new ride in 2007. Yes, Kings Island may get a new flat ride, but don`t expect much more than that.

What is the deal in proofreading? It is part of the Terms of Service. By re-reading your post, you will possibly eliminate spelling errors, which is part of the reason I told him to proofread his post, the other being grammer and punctuation. It makes reading the boards more enjoyable when things are spelled correctly. Not to mention the fact that sometimes people from the park frequent these boards.

Well, if you are referring to the off-season construction tours, those are conducted by the Marketing Department at Kings Island, we generally will have an announcement on this site about when and where they will occur. Usually, they are free (although last year, it was part of the ACE winter event at the park and a pizza dinner was included after the tour so there was a nominal charge. As far as full time employment, those positions are probably filled from within as openings arise. Eventually seasonal employees who work there way up the employment ladder might fill a full time position.

^Try proof reading your post before you post it. A couple of your sentences are hard to read/understand. Yes, a museum with articles, pictures and the like would be a very nice little attraction to visit. It would be nice to see images of the park in its early days when the trees were no where near as mature as they are today. I wouldn`t be terribly surprised if Cedar Fair decided to create a museum at Kings Island in the park at some point in the future. Heck, even Coney Island has a little museum (although it is tied to a retail shop) the Museum Shop is in Lakeside Pavilion right by the Ferris Wheel.

Well, I think it is generaly agreed upon that any such "ride rotation program" that was planned under CBS management is up in the air. It will be interesting to see what new capital expansion plans are going to show up at the five Paramount Parks for next season.

What is even stranger is that I doubt they would be repainting Face Off, considering they just repainted it for last season.

Yes, the Grand Carousel, PTC #79 came from Coney Island and was built in 1926. When the Carousel was moved to Kings Island, it WAS not restored, although it obviously received a new building to house it. The reason it was not restored in 1972, is that Coney had completely refurbished it in 1969 at a cost of $50,000 and had completely repainted all of the rounding boards. The Carousel is currently the oldest ride in operation at Kings Island. The ride acquired the Wurlitzer Duplex band organ that it currently has when the Carousel was moved to Kings Island in 1972.

And see, I wouldn`t have a problem with paying for parking on my season pass, provided I still get to use the Gold Pass Lot and/or they actually fix the areas of the parking lot that are becoming littered with potholes.

I too have not heard the Band Organ playing any music this year, it has all been "piped" in. Which is ashame, because the Wurlitzer Duplex organ actually predates the Carousel. Hopefully they will spruce that up as it is a classic and get it in running order again. As for the horses, I believe PKI has a permanent person on staff that fixes up the horses (they own a couple extra that are restored during the season). At least they used to have a full time person devoted to the horses.

Well, I bought by 2006 season pass last fall for $70 and it included parking. I would still get a pass if it was $107, but I`m sure more than a few families would think twice before renewing their pass if the price had jumped that much from the moment they offer 2007 passes (which are when they are at the cheapest rate).

Yeah I concur. I think that $70 was a little underpriced, but about $90 is a fair price, IMO for a season pass to just Kings Island, with parking and perks included. If, as I said before, they overprice a basic Kings Island pass, they will loose season pass holders, which at KI make up a large part of their attendance and in park spending.

Well, the Salt Water Circus wasn`t over by the Animal Habitat. It was located right behind International Showplace and next to Paradise Island treats. On the spot where Headless Hollow has been for FearFest.

Well, as far as the parking pass issue, since Cedar Fair hasn`t announced the season pass program, you don`t know how the parking pass to Kings Island will work. Secondly, while it is assumed that they will fix the issues with Son of Beast, they have not said that they intend to reopen the ride, it could theoretically meet the wrecking ball (although highly unlikely). Thirdly, Volcano: The Blast Coaster has since reopened from its incident. And Flight of Fear at Kings Dominion was never rumored to be for sale. It was rumored to be shipped off to Paramount Canada`s Wonderland as a new attraction up there as part of a new ride rotation program. If that install up there worked well, then PKI`s would follow suit and head down to Carowinds. But since Cedar Fair took over, those plans most likely have been scrapped.

I agree to a point. Yes, the park has a serious issue that they have to look at. How to fix Son of Beast so that it doesn`t result in similar injuries in the future. I think the bottom line is clear. The state of Ohio, Cedar Fair or Kings Island will not open the ride until they are 100% confident that it will run safely. And yes, as a guest at the park, you do not expect to get injured by a ride when you ride it. While your car analagy is a nice point, there are some major differences. Since this is a multi-million dollar attraction, people are going to want to see it reopened as it is a fixture at the park. Yes, it is sad and unfortunate that people were injured on it, but just because there were injuries on it does not mean the ride should be scrapped. Injuries happen all the time at amusement parks (although more often than not they are rider misconduct). I think that Kings Island and Cedar Fair are evaluating what to do exactly with Son of Beast. They are probably deciding if rebuilding it and coping with the high maintenance costs is worth the questionable ride experience. Personally, I have my doubts whether the ride will reopen, or whether it will become the next Bat. I think though, that they will try to make it work, since they have sunk a lot of money into the ride.

Yeah, I`d agree that anything much more than about $125 is rather expensive (especially $200) for a family of four or five. On the other hand, the value could be increased since it would include admission to other parks that are in the state/area. The fact that you could buy a Paramount Park season pass before the year was over for the following season for only about $70 a person was a really great deal. If they raise the prices too much, they will alienate some of their current pass holders from renewing. It will be interesting to see if they offer passes for the following season in the last couple of weeks of this season. Cedar Fair has not done that while Paramount Parks have.

Yeah, if you showed up to Coney on Balloon Glow night anytime after five o`clock it was a zoo and not very representative of a typical day at Coney. Before five on that day the park was fine. I showed up at 9 to watch the fireworks. It would definantely be worth a trip back when the park isn`t as crowded. On a side note, the Cincinnati Flower and Farm Fest that has been held at Coney the past couple of years the first two weekends in October has a new name this year (all the classic rides are open). This year it is called Falloween. In addition, they have uped the date by a weekend so that it occurs on the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October.