CoastersRZ

Sometimes companies will maintain the number of employees that they have. But they will pass the increased cost of labor onto the customer, in the form of higher prices. Have you seen how high those 3 ways at Skyline cost you now? It is north of $5.

Topic closed. Please keep things around here civil.

Really? Where would the return on investment in that be? The money would better be spent on adding a new ride, or fixing up some of the existing infrastructure. Given the cost of licensing, it simply isn`t worthwile for the return. Not to say Coney is cheap, but for a smaller park, licensing is just out of the question in most circumstances. And this past weekend, they had Curios George and the Cat in the Hat having lunch, and then walking around the park. They also had "Big Boy" from Frisch`s there this past weekend walking around.

Paul stated it best. Some enthusiasts can put a "black eye" on the perception of enthusiasts. A few bad apples can spoil it for the bunch. There are some enthusiasts who think they are entitled things when they go to the parks. This is a select minority, but they tend to stand out. Then there are those of us who have spent 11 seasons working in the industry and still are enthralled by it. I don`t care how many times I have ridden a certain coaster, I just enjoy going to the parks for the sake of enjoying the parks.

Wait. You did ALL of those rides in 30 minutes!? That is empty! I wish the park would have been that empty on my visits to the Point this year.

Yes, some coaster clubs are obsolete, because the main function they served was to publish news via a newsletter about the amusement industry. In today`s world, those newsletters are obsolete by the time they even hit the printing press. It also doesn`t help that the economy is not as prosperous as it once was. People have less disctretionary income. I have made several good friends from this site (back when we used to have KIC days), and from other groups. That is the main focus of these enthusiast groups, is building friendships with fellow people who are equally obsessed about this industry, while most people will look at us like we are crazy. And you see it on thise site too. Sometimes people`s interests and priorities change. Life happens. Many members who used to post here frequently are seldom, if ever heard from. I too, no longer post as much as I once did. I`m technically working three jobs, have a girlfriend, and am trying to study for the Architect Registration Exam. That leaves little time to check in on and post on KICentral or other sites. I still try to check in here and catch up on the news every now and then. And I still follow the industry very closely. So in a long winded, round about way, I would say that the coaster enthusiast population is not dwindling. And thanks to parks offering early rides times, I`d say quite the contrary. Although, there maybe less actual members enrolled in coaster clubs.

Sure, lots of things could "quite happen" at Coney. I haven`t heard anything recently talked about. The interesting thing to watch will be what happens with River Downs next door since they apparently are going to be installing some video slots at some point. I`ve heard rumors that they maybe doing something this winter construction wise. (I did see some survey crews in River Downs parking lot and some soil cores being done back in the summer months. Not sure what impact that will have on Coney, but for sold out Riverbend concerts, cars do park in Riverbends lots...

Well for only having worked on the demolition for about a week, they are certainly moving pretty quickly. At this rate, the entire first rose bowl will be going in a matter of weeks. I doubt that they start demolition on the main lift hill before the end of the season. It is just too close to Adventure Express and Wolf Pack.

I agree. What is up with the "real" coasters clarification? I think my first big coaster was probably Adventure Express, back when the height requirment was 36" or 42" Heck, back in the day, even Racer had a height requirement of 42" I believe. I remember being terrified of riding The Racer. But once I rode it a couple of times, The Beastie, as it was called then, seemed like a walk in the park.

Holy old thread, batman! I wonder where our good friend Beast1979 has been lately. Haven`t seen him around this site much lately.

I`m not sure if anyone made it out to Fire Up the Night on Saturday. The fireworks displays were awesome. Canada actually won out of the three countries. The park was PACKED. It was actualyl the busiest I have EVER seen the rides side in my eleven seasons working at Coney. There were huge lines for not only the rides, but restauarants (with reports of them running out of food throughout the night) and lines for both the mens and womens restrooms! I think it is safe to say that this event will be returning to Coney Island next fall.

I can confirm that Kings Island`s WindSeeker was closed today at Haunt. I didn`t even see the ride crew anywhere near the ride.

Send in the cranes, there ought to be cranes! How many remember that saying?

And just because they said that they would announce the rest of its capital expenditures does not mean that they are going to reveal all. How so? They may say that at park X we are going to add a new water slide complex. They may not go into details on what said complex is or how much they are spending on it, and any details related to it. Just a hunch, but I wouldn`t expect Kings Island to get much for next season. Cedar Fair did just spend $10 million on Soak City this season at Kings Island. If something big was coming, we would likely have seen something by now in the park.

Yes , I can go round and round about those. They are such classic rides. But capacity monsters they are not. They are horrendous for being slow loaders. On a good Saturday at Coney, it can take upwards of ten minutes to load the twelve seat Ferris Wheel. If you figure about 3 people per seat (that is high as there will be quite a few couples), then thats only 36 people per ride. Multiply that by six cycles an hour, and you get an approximate hourly capacity of about 216 per hour.

Are they removing Cinnabon from the park or is it going in another location, if it is indeed going into that location? It always smells delicious when I go past it. I can`t really think of another shop location along I Street where it could go in, unless they put it in at the Pretzel shop at the corner food stand by the Emporium. Hopefully they aren`t taking out the Graeter`s to put this in...

Hmm. I wonder where exactly on International Street this is going? Any one have any insights on what shop this is replacing?

I believe that there will NOT be early entry before Haunt on this Saturday since the park is closed during the daylight hours for a private company outing. As always, go to the source and call Kings Island for confirmation on this. There is no early entry on Friday nights, but thee is on typical Saturdays and Sundays.

I agree. Thunderhead is one awesome ride, that doesn`t let up until you hit the brakes at the very end of the ride. It is amazing how much those PTC trains have been modified from their original incarnations. I would love to eventually see a Great Coasters International ride at Kings Island. I don`t think that will happen any time soon though. I think we will see a new steel coaster at Kings Island before we see a wooden coaster built there.

If he was so interested in that park, he should have never sold off his interests in the park back in the 90`s. I don`t see how Kentucky Kingdom can re-open as an amusement park. The options surrounding the Louisville area are just too numerous, as you mentioned. There are three parks just an hour or two away from that area. That is pretty steep competition to be going up against. Especially without actually owning the land tha the park sits on and being free to run the park without the oversight of the fairboard (or the large payments that they want). As an aside, we haven`t heard much out of the folks at Holiday World since they called off Bluegrass Boardwalk. I wonder if they are planning on adding anything new to Holiday World in 2013. They normally start teasing about new things this time of year. Although, they are busy finishing the final touches on their new Halloween event.

I echo Ronny`s sentiments. Thanks for sharing those pictures! I always love seeing construction pictures of the park, especially ones like that which show the history of the park and how things have changed over the years. The Ferris Wheel in that pictures is an Eli Bridge model. I know all about those types of rides!

Yep. Look at parks like Holiday World, they introduced and proved that adding just rides that don`t break records can still bring in people in record numbers. A ride does not have to have all the superlatives to bring in guests and help on that ROI. And families bring in money for parks because they are the ones that will likely spend all or most of the day at the park, and buy the food in the park (not to mention paying for admission, playing a couple games, buying a couple souvenirs, etc).

Yes. Many on here fail to realize that the park has many target markets they are trying to cater too. The target market that attracts people to Thunder Alley likely isn`t the same one that attracts people to do Dinosaurs Alive. They both exist to cater to their target markets so that the park can capture as much revenue as possible. Just because you would never pay the money to do something, doesn`t mean that 1,000 other people would be willing to pay the money to do that. Slingshot and Skyflyer are perfect examples of that. Some would never want to pay to do that, others are more than willing to fork over the cash and experience those attractions.

Yes they can. There have been a couple times that I have been to Cedar Point for HalloWeekends in past years, and the park has been PACKED. I didn`t even both with the lines for the Haunts, knowing that they would be crazy. I`d much rather ride the rides when at Cedar Point anyway than the Haunts.

While it may not have been all that great, it has brought in extra revenue for the park. And the park is a business after all whose primary intent is to make money.