CoastersRZ

I must have read right over that part!

I don`t think seasonal employees can just "sneak around unquestioned" in a closed amusement park. They do have security at the parks in the off season.

An important thing to note, as you mentioned at the end of the article, is that when it originally opened, it was not operated by Kings Island. Sister park Kings Dominion also had a Lion Country Safari. To this day, Six Flags Great Adventure still has a drive thru animal safari located next to the amusement park.

Keep in mind that a property boundary does not tell all of the story. Topography is a big challenge to building things as well (adds cost to foundation design, construction, access, etc.). Since the river on the east side of the property is the Little Miami, which is a National and State scenic river, there are likely certain setbacks that have to be observed from the river (not to mention the topography by the river is likely a larger slope and less suitable for building on). My bet would be for Coney Mall to receive the next major addition. Other than Windseeker being added, that area of the park hasn`t really seen much attention. Keep in mind that before Mystic Timbers was built, we got a new funnel cake stand... This coming year we are getting a new building in Coney Mall...

I stand corrected. But yes, two installs in essentially the last five years is a lot less active then when they were installing three to five new rides every season.

It was hard to read that article. It seems like that news station was trying to fabricate a story that the ODA has not learned anything from the Fireball accident. Seemed like they were after ratings by sensationalizing. Yes, it is still sad that someone lost their life on the ride. The article above mentioned that the report was released last month but does not state any of the findings of the report. Has this accident caused some people to think twice about about riding amusement park rides? Perhaps. Are amusement park rides still safe? Absolutely. There is always some risk in riding rides. But there is also always a risk getting in your car and driving to the amusement park too. Some states don`t even have a ride inspection program. (Florida is one of those states). And all fair rides and rides at local festivals are inspected by the state ride inspectors. From my experience with the ride inspectors at Coney, they do a thorough job.

The Caddie Shack FEC located in Alliance, Ohio (near Akron), will be opening the Tilt A Whirl when they open for the 2018 season. The ride previously operated at Geauga Lake and The Columbus Zoo, which recently announced that they were retiring the ride. When the FEC reopens in the spring, it will be renamed to Funtimes Fun Park (a nod to a previous owner of Geauga Lake). Read more in this article: http://www.cleveland19.com/story/37201572/a-piece-of-geauga-lake-coming-back-to-northeast-ohio-and-you-can-ride-it#.WlA_TMhH_FM.facebook And visit The Caddie Shack website here: http://caddieshackohio.com/

I would recommend checking out Santa Monica Pier if you can (its the end of Route 66), and there is Pacific Amusement park there featuring a decent sized Morgan coaster (Santa Monica West Coaster https://rcdb.com/434.htm). It is a fun little park. Jheri and I visited there in April 2015 on our honeymoon. If you have the time, Griffith observatory is neat (and free) destination to check out. SFMM is a bit of a drive. Disneyland and Knott`s are relatively close. I enjoyed the wagon ride at Knott`s. Definitely a slower paced way to enjoy the park. And do not miss the Calico Mine Ride and Timber Mountain Log Ride. Both are fun rides.

Given the recent conference calls, I am not surprised they are trying to expand their hotel offerings (they refer to this on their conference calls as "out of park revenue". I am a little surprised that if it does end up being a Spring Hill Suites that they have gone with a flag for the hotel versus using their own name plate (like Breakers at Cedar Point or the recently renamed Cedar Point Express Hotel). I wonder where on property this planned hotel is slated to go. I know they have been expanding Carowinds with a lot of new capital lately.

Hershey is a nice park. I haven`t been there since they added Skyrush though. While Millenium Force has been relatively trouble free, Top Thrill Dragster has had its fair share of issues. And when I was at Knott`s back in April of 2015, Xcelerator was also down due to maintenance related issues. Intamin has had some great rides. I love Millinium Force as well (and thoroughly enjoy Wicked Twister, and Maverick now that it has the new restraints on it).

As I have said before, I would be surprised if Cedar Fair gets a new Intamin. I believe that the last new Intamin coaster installed in the United States was Skyrush at Hershey back in 2012. I know Intamin has been active over seas though.

Speaking of costs of attractions, I believe that Cedar Fair is no longer going to announce how much individual attractions cost for their parks.

I wonder what size the pipe was that burst. Seems like it might have been a sprinkler line given the number of gallons of water. I don`t think you would get that kind of volume from domestic water lines for the guest rooms.

That is quite the water leak for that much ice to form on the exterior of the building.

Well, in all fairness they only have roughly three and a half months to complete the building before opening day. That is not a lot of time, especially given the potential for weather delays until they are under roof.

Bumper boats will not be back. Stay tuned for what will replace Como Cruisers.

There really isn`t room on either side of the river gate to add a campground, as that is all part of the picnic grove area. From what I have been hearing, there maybe new theming and signage added to the dry side of the park this season in matching some of the new signage that was added to Sunlite Water Adventure. I have heard that the Como Cruisers attraction may have set sail for retirement. Stay tuned for more information...

I too just read this blog tonight. I had no idea he had passed. Thoughts and prayers to his family (even though he passed away in September).

The only issue with opening before Thanksgiving would be set up time. I think given the limited amount of decorations we saw in October at the park, the transformation from then until opening night of Winterfest was incredible. I would imagine they were racing to get everything done by opening night of Winterfest. If it were to open earlier, they would have to start decorating earlier, and you would notice more Christmas decorations in the park in October.

Typically, they will occasionally retrack sections of wooden coasters in the off season. When they do this, they will remove the 8 layers of wood and rebuild it. The amount that they rebuild just depends on the shape and how rough that section is. They get rough because the nails that hold them together start to loosen as the holes they are in widen from the vibration/loads of the trains. They will also occasionally replace sections of structure as needed. I know for this year, they replaced some of the catwalk on lift two. Kings Island typically doesn`t say how much retracking they are doing on their wooden coasters, or where the work is being done at. Holiday World did announce how much track work (and where) they are doing on Voyage this off season (with the help of Gravity Group).

I was there tonight for about four hours. It was brutally cold out- my car said 18 degrees when I got in. There was a decent crowd there for a Thursday night. The Festhaus and Kings Island Theater were packed as they were warm places. Boo Blasters had about a ten minute line. I am not sure if I will make it back up on Saturday for the final night. Kings Island has a big hit on their hands with WinterFest. I can`t wait to see what changes they make for year two next year.

Ryan, I too was hoping that Tinker`s Toy Factory would be in the KI Theater. But like you said the cast they have in the Festhaus is very good. Especially Poindexter. Strangely, I miss the few songs that the 2005 version had that were not included with this incarnation. Still, it is very cool that this show has been featured in all three versions of Winterfest.

The integration of the animals into the park at BGT is very well done, in my opinion. I love how the skyride makes you feel like you are in the middle of a nature preserve. Same goes for the train.

But from a business perspective, more rides equals more worked to have to pay to operate those rides, which means a lower profit margin. Keep in mind, that the rides they have running during Winterfest still need to have their off season maintenance done to them. So the park essentially has three and a half months to do their off season overhaul verses five and a half, or almost half the time.

From what I hear, this event is doing quite well again this year. Better than last year. Be advised, that on Saturdays, it does get backed up, and can back up across the 275 bridge.