Rivertown Rider

I would love for them to add something like Time Traveler. Having a ride like that less than 5 hours away would be great. I do expect the hotel piece to be detailed. I also look for them to add a dark ride in the next couple of years as well as a railroad dropoff/pickup at Wildwood Grove. They are also eventually going to have to do something about parking because it seems like Dollywood keeps getting more and more popular.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Camp Snoopy renovation in the next year or two and that would a great time to change out Boo Blasters. I realize that it is considered part of IS, but most people going to the park would consider it to be part of Planet Snoopy.

AE is still a great ride. Sometimes people don't understand that families are more likely to come to park where there are things that the whole family can do just not the teens riding the extreme coasters. KI has enough land to accommodate both. It is also things like AE which are why IMO, CP may have a better overall coaster lineup but KI is a better overall park.

My pick would be a brand new topper track RMC. Something like Outlaw Run or Goliath at SFGAm would be great. I want them to stay away from a launch like Lightning Rod because that ride has always had notorious downtime, said as someone who is at Dollywood 8 or so times a year.

A few thoughts that I have: 1. If those are restrooms to the left in the picture of the Chaos building, hats off to Cedar Fair for putting those in. Time will tell if those get built in 5 and a half weeks or not but this is great news if that is true. 2. The themed food stand appears to be already finished right in front of Chaos. Wonder what type of food that they will have? Will we finally get our season long mac and cheese stand? 3. The old entrance to the FOF queue appears to be leveled out instead of sloped like it was before. I believe part of what was going in there was lockers, but is it possible part of the area will also be a store? I believe the blueprints showed the entire new queue for FOF going around thru part of the old Firehawk queue. 4. Above all, I am most curious what they are doing beside of the exit to FOF. Is it possible we are getting a flat?

That is one of the things I am curious about is to see if they are going to regrade any of the land at all. With The Vortex removal it gives them a great opportunity to redesign that corner of the park.

I am definitely in favor of a Camp Snoopy conversion, the woodsy aesthetic would also result in a much better transition from International Street to Camp Snoopy to Rivertown than what is there presently. As part of the transformation to Camp Snoopy, I would also love to see them move the Eagles/Gliders over across from Shake, Rattle, and Roll in the plot that the original Eagles were on. The 3 point challenge could always be relocated elsewhere in the park.

While I think a re-theme of BLSC would be great, even a name change would be helpful.

Nitro, NJFTP, June 2019

It makes you wonder if they went back to the drawing board with BGW getting two coasters two years in a row. If that is the case maybe KD doesn't get a new coaster until '22.

Winterfest 2019

^ Thanks for putting that together. It wouldn't surprise me if Orion ends up doing even better numbers than Banshee capacity wise as both Leviathan and Fury have been very efficient the times I have ridden them. RMC really needs to figure out how to make their throughput much better. I know there is only so much they can do with their restraints but headliner coasters should be much more efficient than they are.

I'm really saddened by the closure. My wife and I went on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend in 2018 and had a great time. Indiana Beach was really an engineering marvel in that they packed so much into such a small amount of space. While Cornball Express seems to get more love from people, I actually preferred Hoosier Hurricane because of how it went long and gave a scenic view of the lake. Their swings out by the lake was probably the best set of swings I've ever ridden as well. While I hope someone steps in to buy the park it is probably doubtful, it is kind of in the middle of nowhere and not close enough to a major metro area nor it is a big enough of a park to get the interest of any of the major operators. I do hope Cedar Fair steps in to buy some of the flats. Both the Tilt a Whirl and Music Express would be great additions to KI. The Giant Gondola Wheel and Paratrooper would also be welcome additions. Steel Hawg would also be a good addition to a park like Michigan's Adventure. I hope someone buys Tigg'rr as well.

It doesn't look like there has been much noticeable movement today.

It will be interesting to see if they widen the pathways with Vortex being gone. The area back by WindSeeker has needed some more space but that should be less of an issue this year since Vortex exit traffic won't be happening anymore.

It will be interesting to see what if anything comes from this. I enjoyed Kennywood when I went there back in 2018, but I have read many horror stories from others about ops issues. As far as being for sale, it is almost a park that is too small to be big and too big to be small. Six Flags would completely ruin what charm is left of it and I don't know if Cedar Fair would be interested. From a Cedar Fair standpoint it could be a good option if they could get past the size concerns. It is not directly competing with any of the existing Cedar Fair parks but could certainly add potential Platinum Passes from the people who live in parts of northern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

^ The future...

Wildfire at Silver Dollar City, May 2019

I do think something like Goliath at Six Flags Great America would be a great fit. I agree with @silver2005 that it needs to have the same 48" requirement. The thing that I think is interesting about the next coaster installation is that it gives CF the opportunity to look at how Hangtime, Yukon Striker, Copperhead Strike, Steel Vengeance, and Twisted Timbers are all performing at their respective parks from a popularity and maintenance cost and efficiency and help make the decision based on that.

Sadly I didn't ride this on my visit to KD back in 2018. I hope that Avalanche doesn't go away anytime soon as that is a really fun and rare ride. KD really does need to work on developing a cohesive theme for that area of the park though as it is currently a hodge podge of coaster themes thrown into a safari themed area.

Wonder if this will be the last Saturday that Vortex is still (partially) standing...

^ You could probably put the ladder game between the airbrush stand and Hank's. If more people are spending time in the area, it is also probably more likely they are going to spend money in that area (at Hank's, Festhaus, the Freestyle location, or the bar). There is also the small pad on the other side of the restrooms where the rock mountain used to be where something could go as well.

A sunset view from the Dollywood train in Fall 2019.

The interesting thing about Ride Entertainment on the notice of commencement is it could be one of any number of options because they work with so many companies. http://www.rideentertainment.com/sales/home/ Please note that the height requirements and people per hour numbers are taken from their site. There are more options than what I have listed but some of these may be park fits. Some possibilities: Manufacturer: Gerstlauer: Eurofighter coaster model (i.e. Mystery Mine at Dollywood): 48 inch height requirement, 800-850 people per hour capacity (depending on type). Infinity coaster model (i.e. Hangtime at Knott's Berry Farm): 48 inch height requirement, According to the Ride site, Hangtime at Knott's has a capacity of 1,000 people per hour. Skyroller (i.e. Skyhawk at Canada's Wonderland): 48 inch height requirement; gives a thrilling flat ride for the park; relatively small footprint; could easily fit in Area 72; 480 people per hour capacity Giant Wheel: gives the park a Ferris Wheel; given the fact that the area already has one giant ferris wheel in Cincinnati and another one coming to Newport it is probably doubtful. Manufacturer: Lagotronics: (Various interactive dark rides) Manufacturer: Funtime: Booster/Booster Unhinged: Thrilling flat; 600 people per hour capacity Manufacturer: V & P Rides: E-motionboard: Potential Flying Theater (think Soarin' at Epcot); Possible use of the Old Crypt building; could be used all season long (including Winterfest); 800 people per hour capacity Manufacturer: Metallbau Emmeln: Pony Trek (i.e. Black Bear Trail at Dollywood; Moose on the Loose at Darien Lake): Potential kids/family ride. One would assume that it would go to Planet Snoopy. Capacity numbers weren't available but I can't imagine it is high based upon my observations and experiences watching it at Dollywood. Manufacturer: KCL Engineering: Potential Lighting Package for Orion: This is the same company that did the lighting package for Hangtime at Knott's Berry Farm so it is a possibility. Manufacturer: Skyline Attractions: Skywarp (Various Models): Thrilling flat; small footprint; 800-1,110 people per hour capacity. Manufacturer: Skytrans: Skyride: Potential 2,000 people per hour capacity

I think there is opportunity to add some small flats in the existing Oktoberfest area as well. They could relocate the airbrush location elsewhere and bring back the Keggers. They could also put in a Musik Express where the ladder game is now. It would really enliven that area from being what it is now.