CoastersRZ

Yes, there is quite a bit of walking involved when visiting amusement parks. Keep in mind that walking is a good form of exercise, and with the ever increasing obesity problem in the US, its a good thing when parents and their kids are out and about and walking and not just sitting at home watching TV or playing video games or on the computer. These day time Halloween events are big business too, just like the Fright by night portion is big business. Completely different demographics that they are pulling from. Look at Holiday World and the fact that they are introducing a family friendly Halloween event this season (and extending their season). Halloween means big bucks for amusement parks. Too bad the winter weather in Southwest Ohio is so unpredictable. I think a Christmas themed event could still make parks like Kings Island a lot of extra income if priced right and had the right attraction mix.

It doesn`t matter how much stock you own in P&G. Admission is granted to P&G day at Kings Island to Proctor & Gamble employees and their families. Shareholders do not gain admission to this event. You MUST have a ticket to gain admission to this event. All others, including pass holders will be denied admission.

The pool is already drained! And the pool was open this past Sunday...

The interesting thing is that it says the new Pass Book functions more like a rewards/loyalty card holde. You can`t directly pay for things with this program (and that thought just seems a little scary). I wonder if they are going to be rolling out FunPerks to all their parks next season, and utilizing this software as a way to redeem the perks? Certainly food for thought. I think we will see FunPerks continue at Kings Island and expand. Hopefully, they will make the system chain wide, so things purchased at other Cedar Fair parks count towards your FunPerks total. Especially since I know I`m going to make a visit or two to Cedar Point next summer, and hopefully a visit to Kings Dominion.

Coney Island will be hosting an international Fireworks competition on Saturday, September 22nd. Teams from the US, Canada and Mexico will be competing in the competition. The competitiors in the competition will be Alonzo Fireworks (Albany, New York, USA), Sirius Pyrotechnics (Montreal, Canada), and Lux Pirotecnia (Mexico City, Mexico). After those three compete (at 9:00pm, 9:20pm and 9:40pm), Rozzi`s Famous Fireworks will provide the grand finale at 10pm. Plus, enjoy Coney`s classic rides all night long. The gates open at 5pm. There will also be a Yuengling Party in the pool. Sunlite Pool will be EMPTY so you can party IN THE POOL and enjoy... ‘Sunburners' Steel Drum Party Band 5:00-9:00 Craft Beer Tasting from 5:00-7:00 Incendium Arts Fire Troupe - World-Class Fire Spinning Dancing - on Sunlite Pool Island at 7:45 & 8:45 The event is sponsored by Dr. Pepper. Pricing is $20 per car load, and includes admission to Coney`s classic rides. Coney Island season pass holders can get admission for $15 per car. No coolers or picnic baskets are permitted for this event, and pricing applied to normal passenger vehicles only. (Excludes RVs, buses, and large capacity vans). I look forward to seeing some of you there that night! I will be working that day, likely as a rides manager, but maybe jumping in to help run rides as staffing levels dictate. See you at Coney on September 22nd for Fire Up the Night

Not to mention when Animal Kingdom opened back in 1998. It had a serious lack of a signautre E-ticket attraction. That changed with the addition of the Finding Nemo musical and obviously the addition of Expedition Everest. I think we will eventually see another park added to the mix. But I wouldn`t look for that to happen anytime soon. Remember, building a new theme park is an expensive proposition, and a big gamble. One has to hope that people are willing to pay and show up to experience the park. Additionally, the new park would have to offer something that guests can`t get at any of the four existing Disney theme parks and two water parks down in Florida.

I am deeply saddened to hear this news. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. I too remember getting stuck on the Blue Racer, or him asking me on here about things related to Coney. I remember him at that bowling party. He always had so much enthusiasm for Kings Island and amusement parks. He was a great guy and always seemed to have fun bringing his kids to the park to share in his enjoyment of the place. Its unfortunate, how early his life ended. I`m sure he`s up there in that big amusement park in the sky looking down on us. Rest in peace Keith. You will certainly be missed by the KICentral community. Robbie

And so far, only Cedar Point and California`s Great America have officially announced what they are adding in 2013 as far as the Cedar Fair parks are concerned. I know that Kings Dominion has hinted at what is coming. With the price tage of Gatekeeper ($30 million) and the cost of Great America`s new ride, that will roughly account for approximately half of what Cedar Fair has traditionally spend on cap ex projects in recent years. I also wouldn`t look for Canada`s Wonderland to be adding anything big with Leviathon opening this season. Knott`s is rumored to be getting something with the removal of Perilous Plunge. It will be an interesting ride in the coming weeks, and months.

And who is to say if it was nixed, that it was in fact in the 11th hour? Any new attraction is a big investment by a park. They are going to do their due dilligence. If something comes up that causes them to think that their investment will cost more, or that the cost of the investment will not provide the necessary return on investment, then the smart decision would be to not install said investment. Then again, a park must invest money in order to lure in group sales and new customers, as well as to keep existing customers coming back. Fresh paint and new kiddy rides alone will not keep people coming back.

No news on anything new for next season at Coney. I do know that plans can and do change from time to time...

Adam, I knew that he was waiting in the wings, so to speak to take over at Dollywood. Most people around here may not have remembered him being around at KI.

And for those of you unaware, his replacement is Craig Ross. That name might sound familiar to some of you who have been around here for a while. Craig Ross at one point was employed by Paramount Parks and served as the General Manager of Kings Island for a few seasons.

I`d say that lift has nothing to do with Son of Beast. Rather, I`d say that it is used to assist in inspecting the track for Flight Deck.

Nice find PKI Vortex! The hours of 7pm to 1am have been around since they made Haunt free back in 2003. When Haunt was an upcharge event, the hours on Friday nights were 8pm to 1am. It makes sense, given how crowded Halloween Haunt is, and how much money it seems to bring in for the park.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wild Eagle at Dollywood. The only issue I see with this type of ride is that because the entrance and exit platforms for each side of the train are on the same side, it can hurt capacity as you essentially have to hold opening the gates until the people exiting the train have made their way away from the seats. Other than that, I really enjoyed Wild Eage, which is a great addition to Dollywood. Gate Keeper looks to be an awesome new attraction for Cedar Point, which hasn`t added a new coaster since Maverick in 2007!

I don`t know if there will be remnants, save for maybe some footings left by opening day 2013. A lot will depend on what, if anything they have planned to occupy that space in the future and what kind of time frame they have on that project (if any).

It will be interesting to see if this comes to fruition, and what result the Gaylord reorganization will have on the time frame.

Yep. It routinely had long lines its last season. And don`t forget, that it had been repainted a few years prior to its removal as well.

Yes, King Cobra was the prototype Togo stand up coaster. I much prefered it to Mantis up at Cedar Point, as I found it to be a much more enjoyable ride experience when compared to the ride up north. That being said, what many forget is that because of the restraint design on King Cobra, it was NOT a very high capacity ride. Not to mention, the trains only held 24 passengers. It was a fun ride, but I actually prefer Delirium over King Cobra.

Patience my friend. Good things come to those who wait. There are clues, although not entirely in this thread, as to what may be in store for Coney in the future. More can be gleaned from a visit to the park, if one knows where to search...

Well now, where would the fun be in finding the clues if a picture were posted?

How is using that money to pay distributions helping them make money in the longrun?

No, that is not what I am referring to. The clues are there. That is all I`ll say.

Where would the fun be in telling you where to look? The clues are there to get started in the right spot if you look into the past. Robbie, choosing his words carefully.

And the Interpreter summed it up quite nicely. There is no need for a topic like this here. Constructive criticism is fine, but a topic like this will stray way beyond that. Topic closed.