CoastersRZ

I agree! Thanks for uploading these videos! A little tidbit, of information, is that Coney Island`s carousel has an MP3 player playing carousel music. It came from a couple Carousel music CDs. It might just have some of this music on it this year.

Wow! Talk about bringing back an old topic from the past, Gabe! Its hard to believe that this site has been around for so long! And that I have been a staff member for eight years now! I first became a staff member right before WinterFest in 2005 after taking some pictures of the set up for Winterfest in October of 2005. The site has allowed me to build many friendships over the years, and has allowed me many unique and special opportunities at Kings Island over the years!

When they were let in... I was down at Carowinds this past year with my Platinum Pass. Visited on a busy Saturday, and was told my pass didn`t work at the admissions gate. Spent thirty plus minutes dealing with guest relations who told me there was a problem with my pass and that I`d have to check with Kings Island to get it fixed. Turns out it was a glitch on Carowinds end, but I was NOT amused, to say the least.

It was mentioned that the blog "disappeared" for another feature on their website, which turned out to be the Photo of the Day. I`m sure they have a reason as to why it is gone.

The renovation to Rivertown cost a lot. They added in a lot of new fencing, and those pavers aren`t cheap. They do not need to do much to the buildings to retheme them. And it wouldn`t be that expensive either. I don`t know why you think that a new headliner attraction and a spruce up of Action Zone can`t be done in the same year. I for one am really excited to see what is in store for the Action Zone. I wonder what it will look like this season, and if we will see a construction site taking shape in Son of Beast`s old area. It will certainly look different without Thunder Alley there. It will be interesting to see if Jungle Jim`s does take the water tower, how the incorporate it into the store (whichever one it finds a home in).

It comes down to capacity and crowds. On busy weekend days, they will run both to offer better capacity to handle the crowds. Same thing with the Kings Island and Miami Valley Railroad. On busy days, they will run both trains.

And technically Flight Deck is not an inverted coaster. It is a suspended coaster, the last one that was built by Arrow Dynamics. Inverted coasters are like Raptor at Cedar Point and Invertigo. To add further confusion to the matter, Vekoma (the manufacturer of Invertigo), calls their inverted coasters suspended looping coasters (or SLC).

As stated by Don in another thread, the webcams are currently down because they are doing maintenance on the servers.

I`d be all for the Flying Eagles migrating back to Kings Island. Some tidbits about that photo. The path that leads off to the middle of the picture on the left is headed towards the Skyride station (this picture was taken from the Skyride). Also visible at the right side of the image is the track for the Tumble Bug, which was relocated from Coney Island.

That last question is purely a budgeting issue. A big cost with any amusement park is the seasonal labor force required to operate the rides. Budgets are always scrutinized. Is the added cost worth the benefits that the park is gaining in added income? It is especially difficult with the fact that Ohio`s minimum wage went up from $7.70 to $7.85 effective January 1st of this year. That means most of the front line workers are going to get paid more. That money has to come from somewhere, if the park doesn`t raise admission prices or other in park prices to compensate, then the added cost will have a material impact on their bottom line. In other words, they will make less money for profits if they don`t bring in more guests or raise prices to compensate. Back when I started working at Coney in 2002, I was paid $5.25 an hour, which is a lot less than the $7.85 new hires are now paid. But back then, they also had a bonus program which resulted in me essentially making $6.25 at the end of the season, which definitely would help with retention of employees through the end of the season. Last year, the rides department hired about 150 employees at Coney. We were down to about half that amount because of colleges starting back up and people getting fired or quit by the end of the season! And yes, I will be returning to Coney this summer as a rides manager again, marking my twelfth season working at the park!

It could just be a technical issue. Things sometimes, and often do break with technology. That or there is stuff they don`t want you to see from the webcams...

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130122/NEWS/301230046 It will be interesting to see how the park fairs this season. Especially with the newly revamped Soak City right across the street.

Thanks for sharing! Those are some great shots. Notice how the path by Rivertown Pizza didn`t connect around to Coney Mall back then, and how the LaRosa`s building was the only big building back there. I love seeing vintage photos of Kings Island like these!

Well, the building has already lost most of its traces to German theming. Even the Festhaus has lost most of its theming. Only the exterior facade at the entrance shows any real resemblance to German architectural motifs. As Interpreter has stated, Oktoberfest as an area at Kings Island is all but dead. Which is sad, given the Cincinnati areas rich German immigrant heritage.

What do you mean what will Coney do in the future? Coney will keep on providing family entertainment as an amusement and water park. Coney is in no way directly connected to River Downs or its owners.

Yes, they did enclose the ordering area when the remodeled it into the Bubba Gump Shrimp Shack. There is no air conditioned, indoor seating, however.

For those of you who have not been past River Downs recently, demolition is in full swing. Most of the grandstand is still standing, for now. Although, they have been slowly pecking away at the edges and tearing parts of the facade down. They also have torn down several of the stables that were located to the east of the track and grandstand, including the stables that were located directly adjacent to Kellogg. I wouldn`t be surprised if most of the demolition is finished in the next few weeks. I have seen some small renderings of the proposed new facility, but have not seen any site plans/large renderings of what the new buildings will look like. The new buildings are to be open by 2014, last I heard.

KIfan73, Outer Hanks main dining area is still open to the weather. It does have sun shading devices that may not be the best to keep out the rain, or keep the hot humid summer heat away. When it was renovated from the German Beer Garden to Bubba Gump, the main renovation was just to the facade and interior. No alterations were really made to the dining area. When it transitioned from Bubba Gump to Outer Hanks (and even the transition to a taco stand), not much really changed with the facade or theme. It still seems odd to have a coastal themed building serving tacos. Just doens`t fit the architecture.

That fountain upgrade rumor is to occur at Canada`s Wonderland first, before being applied to Kings Dominion and Kings Island. That came right out of Matt Ouimet`s mouth in the video that Coasterbuzz made when he visited Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia a few weeks back.

I would love to be able to get up there this summer, it just likely won`t happen. I still kick myself for not getting up to Americana when it was briefly open several years back.

I agree 110% with his post too! Many forget that CBS actually had control of the park, and they were responsible for some very unwise moves. Remember when they decided not to open the metal detectors until park opening time? They had no interest in the parks, and tried to cut costs to maximize profits as much as possible. Cedar Fair has made some good strides, and I think with Ouimet in charge, we have exciting things to look forward to in the future!

And you will have a lot more fun with your new Mrs. on your honeymoon, I can guarantee that. Kings Island will be here when you return from your honey moon. Enjoy it!

This park has been struggling for years. As sad as it is to see parks close, you have to wonder when is enough enough? The park has had countless people volunteer to try and right the ship (even having people volunteer and paint the Blue Streak). But there comes a point where if people still aren`t coming, and the debt continues to grow, then something has to be done. Don`t get me wrong, I do not want to see the park go anywhere. But they have had troubles for years now.

So I was a few years off. Were those two people in that picture wearing the old flight suits that the Flight Deck/Top Gun crews used to wear?

It wasn`t the display that they created to announce that Nickelodeon Splat City was on its way to the park in 1994 was it? (Which would put this picture sometime in 1993.)