CoastersRZ

I do not know what ever happened to him. He was a Covington, KY resident, and was responsible for the redesigning of the Land of Oz. According to the "Cincinnati`s Coney Island" book by Charles J. Jacques, Jr., Gary Wachs discovered him decorating a window for Pogue`s department store. He was also responsible for the design of the Haunted House that opened in 1968, and the 1969 restoration of the Grand Carousel. I do not know where he went (or if he transferred to Kings Island) when it opened in 1972. One interesting fact, although not directly related to Mr. Harsley, is that Darrel Daniels designed many of the buildings at Coney in the 1960s. He designed several of the original buildings at Kings Island as well. He went to my alma mater, UC and studied architecture there.

If I am not too busy, I will swing by and check it out. We are making final preparations for July 3rd now!

I haven`t heard any rumors yet about 2015 at Coney....

Don`t most of these rides have some sort of emergency generator to at least allow the ride to move to a place where guests can be evacuated? At least for power failures. I understand that is not possible if there is a mechanical issue, preventing such thing.

You did walk under the monorail. The monorail crossed above the queue and exit immediately before you walk under the maintenance bridge in the queue line.

Ryan, To answer your question about pile caps. There is a concrete base, which maybe visible sticking out of the ground, and is made of concrete and essentially ties all the piles together. Think of a pile cap as sort of a beam sitting on top of lots of columns, which are the piles. The piles do not necessarily have to go down to bedrock (which would be end bearing piles). They just have to go down to strata of soil that has sufficient bearing capacity. Sometimes friction piles are used when bedrock is too far below grade. Friction piles working by transferring the load from the pile cap into the soil through friction along the length of the pile. There are other factors involved with using piles as a foundation system. Sometimes there is a week layer of soil close to the surface, and then there is good bearing soil some 20-30 below grade. In this instance, the piles are used to essentially support the building on the good soil, while not putting any load on the bad soil. Clay, for example, is a bad soil to put foundations on, since it expands when wet. In this area of the country, there is a lot of clay in the soil. Before the structural engineer determines which type of foundation to use, they will look at the soil cores which are taken at various locations on the site. These soil cores will determine the soil bearing capacity as well as the conditions on the site. With this information, the engineer can decide with the project owner what foundation is most cost effective. Soil cores are usually taken long before any active construction is done, since these are needed to design and produce the drawings from which the building/ride will be built. I hope that makes sense.

If a footer for Top Gun was 70' in the ground, how deep might the footer(s) be for the Eiffel Tower or Drop Tower? What is the deepest footer at KI? They are technically footings. And the depth and size of footings depends on many factors. The forces of the ride, the bearing capacity of the soil, the soil conditions, how far below grade their is firm bearing soil, etc. I believe that The Bat`s deepest footing is around 50' deep. I do not know how deeps the Eiffel Tower`s footing is. But it doesn`t necessarily have to be deeper than The Bat`s footings. It is likely larger in terms of area, so that it can disperse the point loads over a larger soil area. Footings do not always need to bear on bedrock either. Sometimes bedrock can be so far below grade that it is cost prohibitive to do so. I know that both Drop Tower and Wind seeker use piles and a pile cap for their foundations. Not sure if the Eiffel Tower uses a similar foundation system. Think of it like this. If The Bat has a load of 10.000 pounds coming down on a footing, and the bearing capacity of the soil is 200 pounds per square foot, then it would need a footing equal to 50 square feet to obtain the 10,000 pound force that is being exerted by the ride. (which is just over 7 feet square). If the Eiffel Tower has a load of 30,000 pounds coming down on a footing with the same bearing capacity, then its footing would need to be 150 square feet to be able to handle the loads. However, if the soil conditions were such that there was only 150 pounds of bearing capacity at the Eiffel Tower location instead of 200, then it would need a footing that is 200 square feet in area. Does that make sense? Obviously, the above example is a simplified demonstration, and there are many other factors involved. All the numbers I used above were created just for the demonstration and do not reflect actual design loads for either ride. Actual ride foundations are designed by licensed structural engineers in conjunction with a soils report for the site conditions. I hope this lengthy post sheds some light on the subject. I know it was a bit technical in nature. Sorry that I have not been posting as much lately. With three jobs and still getting stuff set up in my new house, I do not have much time these days to hop on here.

Because they want to try and keep the customer that paid for the souvenir cup happy. (And to keep them buying those refills all season and visiting the park often and spending money in the park). They do have to pay off a shiny new ride that the park this year, and the customers are what lets the park be able to do that.

And I believe that it was this incident that resulted in the increased security measures at KI yesterday outside the front gate.

Which sadly is the truth. I speaking from experience with hiring and scheduling employees at Coney Island. Especially for post season once schools start back up, it is hard to schedule and get enough staffing to keep things open. Any extra bodies you can get in to help out, no matter how unenthusiastic, are welcome.

You will have to find me and say hi. I will likely be working all day that day. I love working that day. It is busy, but the crowds and energy is something truly amazing.

Well some people may not have the luxury to be able to go on the weekend, if they have a Monday-Friday job and can`t take time off. Definitely interesting concept. I wonder if amusement parks will ever go to dynamic pricing.

People need to understand that the City of Sandusky is the one whose water main broke. It is NOT CP`s issue to fix. Things like this happen time to time. Yes, it stinks that it broke, and I`m sure Cedar Point (and Cedar Fair) is disappointed and frustrated that this happened. But they have to rely on the City water works to fix the issue. Once they fix the issue, they have to slowly restore the water pressure and make sure all the systems are restored. Yes, Cedar Point is surrounded by water, but it is lake water and has not been filtered and treated to be potable water. Cedar Point and Cedar Fair are not going to build their own systems to filter water on their property. That is a service that is typically provided by municipalities. Water main breaks happen. Several years back, Coney was closed for a day because of a water main break. Some places, like Coney, do utilize well water for some of their water supply. Sunlite Pool at Coney is filled by well water, but before people go swimming in the pool, the water is filtered and treated. There are over 3 million gallons of water in Sunlite pool. Which is more water then any of the wave pools at Kings Island.

If you do decide to go to Balloon Glow. Show up early. Typically ride lines do not get bad until late afternoon. The big draw is of course the balloons and fireworks. And be warned that the capacity of Wipe Out, with only twelve seats, is not that great. So it will likely have long lines.

The smurf bench was over closer to what is not the entrance to the Great Pumpkin coaster.

Awesome! Hopefully I can hear them the next time I am in the park. Definitely a move in the right direction!

According to WCPO, three or four fires were reported in the building. Hard to tell based on the article (http://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/warren-county/mason/report-kings-island-flight-of-fear-indoor-roller-coaster-catches-fire) What exactly was on fire. I`m fairly certain that Flight of Fear has a sprinkler system, so damage hopefully is minimal. I wonder if it was related to some electrical equipment catching on fire. I am sure we will get some more details soon.

When I first saw the subject of this thread, I thought that by boat ride, you meant log flume. Only once I saw the options did I realize you were referring to the viking ships.

This ride is definitely worth a visit to Coney. Surprisingly, nobody got sick on it during opening weekend! I have been on the ride twice, and it is definitely a unique experience. Definitely a ride where those not willing to try it on can enjoy the show of the ride running.

This is already being discussed here: http://www.KICentral.com/forums/index.php/topic/28753-new-ride-coming-to-coney-in-2014/page-3#entry618326

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsCFUXQ2gjk And: http://www.coneyislandpark.com/classic_rides.php The height requirement for this ride is 52" and due to the design of the ride, certain body types may not be able to have the restraints properly secure and will not be able to ride.

I just took my first spin on Wipe Out. It is an intense, thrilling and fun ride. Definitely unlike anything I`ve been on before. A solid addition to Coney. I can see some people who are weak in the stomach not being able to tolerate this ride. Riders must be 52" tall to ride. Definitely try and get out to Coney and ride this if you can. It is going to be a good ride to watch as well, for those that do not want to ride.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/entertainment/2014/05/09/kings-island-reveals-statue-honoring-child-with-cancer/8924407/

I do not know what happened to the trains that Coney used to have. For those that maybe heading down to Coney this weekend. Wipe Out will not be ready to go for the Appalachian Festival. All systems are hopefully a go for Memorial Day weekend, which is the official opening weekend for Coneys 128th anniversary of its founding.

Part of the reason why FUNtv maybe based at KI is because that is where Matt Shaffer worked at KI. He was recently promoted to corporate vice president, strategic alliances. "Shafer's primary focus will be the startup and launch of the Company's new in-house television network." See the press release here: http://www.cedarfair.com/ir/press_releases/index.cfm