CoastersRZ

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.

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