CoastersRZ

Glad to hear they will have a preview day/night next year. Will have to renew my pass before the end of the season. Although, depending when the park opens next year, I may not be able to make the preview day/opening day, if it happens to coincide with my wedding/honey moon.

The 13th and 14th is typically rented out by Procter and Gamble for their employees and their families.

Looks like a well balanced set of attractions for both thrill seekers and the youngest kids. Definitely a top notch addition to Silver Dollar City. Herschend certainly does a good job with their additions. I still have yet to make it out to Silver Dollar City, but will hopefully get out there one of these years. It likely won`t be next year. Most of my vacation days are already spoken for next year with getting married and the honeymoon. (Going to be making my first west coast visit and checking out Disneyland as part of the honeymoon! ).

When I went to SFGAdv three years ago I was amazed at the "Visual Scan" that all the operators were doing. Is that New Jersey law that they have to do that?

I proposed to my beautiful fiance when I was down at Disney World last May. I didn`t pop the question at the park, but rather when we were back at our hotel going for a nice romantic walk. I think it would be a little odd and not very romantic to pop the question on an actual ride.

I have always wanted to get to this park. However, I have never had the opportunity to. I really need to, but I am just so busy right now with wedding planning, working two, sometimes three jobs and tending to the house, it doesn`t leave much time for amusement park trips. I still kick myself for not getting up to Americana/LeSourdsville Lake. Wish I would have made it up there before it closed.

And keep in mind that this is just snow tubing. This is not a reincarnation of Holiday Fest.

Now that was bad! The queue rails that were in the line for Shake Rattle and Roll were likely original to when the ride was installed in 1975. Unlike most of the other queue rails in the park, that are left in their unpainted aluminum state, the rails in Shake Rattle and Roll were painted black. Only Vortex (painted blue), and The Beast (painted brown), still have queues at KI that are painted. It is easy to remove the queue rails and put new ones in. The queue at Carousel used to be on the other side of the ride. Just look at the concrete and you can see the evidence from where the queue used to be.

And what other events may those be?

Wow! I wonder what prompted him to resign? How long had he been the GM of Carowinds?

Yeah. That is weird. At Coney during the interviews, people sometimes call me Mr. Z. Takes some people a while to call me Robbie. And another one of the rides managers is a school teacher at a local high school. Many of our employees are used to calling him Mr. B and not by his first name. They often ask him if they are allowed to call him by hist first name while at work. I enjoyed reading the article about the creation of the sign. A lot of technical talk in the article, but I enjoyed knowing all the hard work that went into the sign. I know there was an equal amount of hard work that went into the design and construction of the station.

Thanks for the trip report! I always enjoy reading PTRs from people. And I am already starting to plan my Christmas light display for this year.

Well I know that on one of my recent visits, I noticed some rotting wood on one of the facades of the buildings. It was the building right next to the I-Street Skyline. At one point in time it was the Coasters gift shop. Not sure what they have in there now. Count me in as the many who wish that the classical music would make a return to I-Street. I have heard that tree removal for quite some time as well. I`d be fine with select removal, but not a total removal. There is a lot of shaded eating areas on I-Street. The other area that could use an upgrade is Tower Gardens. This is (rather was) a very nice relaxing area of the park. It is now a large designated smoking area, which is a shame. The once flowing fountains in that area of the park look pathetic and as if they have not been cared for or touched in five to ten years. I could see that area getting a sprucing up as well. Heck, while we are at it, why not add a flat ride in back on the area that used to hold part of Salt Water Circus, where the Stars from Snoopy`s Starlight Spectacular used to reside. That stretch of the park always seems so empty,

Yes he was. I saw him briefly. It was more towards the late morning when I saw him.

Yep. And that third train that is not on the tracks can actually undergo its offseason maintenance in the normal season, which is actually the down time for the rides maintenance mechanics. Then when the off season arrives, they only have to do off season maintenance on one train, as they already rebuilt the third train.

I believe that the animatronics for Phantom Theater were created by R&R Creative Amusement Designs. They were also responsible for the theming/animatronics on Adventure Express. http://www.randrdesign.com/styled-5/index.html

I was really looking forward to this when the park posted that they were working on it during the off season. I was disappointed when the band organ was no where to be found when I rode the carousel earlier in the year. I am so excited to see and hear this in action. It is a wonderful bit of nostalgia. I am so glad that Cedar Fair and Kings Island have taken time to restore this wonderful piece of work, which is actually older than the Carousel itself! It actually dates back to 1918. The Carousel dates to 1926 and operated at Cincinnati`s Coney Island. I am so excited to get up to Kings Island and check it out! I can`t wait.

Just as long as the automatic spiels are not as monotone and boring sounding as the spiel we have on River Runner down at Coney.

Yeah. We typically only have two ops at WipeOut on weekends, just to speed along the process of loading and unloading (when the park is typically busier).

Yeah. The auto spiel on River Runner is very mono-tone, and not very enthusiastic. But it is what it is. On Wipeout, our operators have typically been doing spiels about loose articles, and not to touch the restraints as they will come down automatically. But the set up of the ride makes it difficult to spiel with riders on the ride, without a microphone and speaker. Especially if only one op is running it.

It was by far one of the biggest crowds I have ever seen at Coney in my 13 seasons there! Just trying to walk from one side of the park to another was difficult because of how many people were there.

I like it too. It is an intense ride. Surprisingly, I thought it would make me feel sick, but it doesn`t really do that. We actually have had very few protein spills on it so far. (We have had more on Ferris Wheel than on Wipeout).

Financing from the state? I think you might mean incentives, in the likely form of tax breaks, etc. in exchange for investment in the park.

I hope you guys had a fun visit! Yesterday was my first weekend day off since the start of the season down at Coney. What were your thoughts on Wipeout?

LaRosa`s Balloon Glow at Coney Island will be this Thursday. Sunlite Pool will be open until 9:30, and the rides will stay open until 11pm. The main highlight is of course the glowing hot air balloons on the Coney Mall. They go up at 8pm and glow until 10pm, when Rozzi`s Famous Fireworks launches a pyrotechnic display over the banks of Lake Como that will delight young and old. Be sure to check out Wipeout, Coney`s new ride this season. The park also recently added some historical pictures in two places in the park. Some of them are located right by the restrooms on the side of the administration building. Included in these items is a copy of the check that Walt Disney sent to Coney back in the 1950s for the consultation work that Coney provided when he was developing Disneyland. The other historical pictures are located over by the arcade, near the Skeeball games and Swing a Round ride. Definitely worth checking out if you are down there. I will be working all day that day, so if you see me, make sure to say hi.