The Interpreter

And then, of course, there was recently another Eiffel Tower replica constructed in Las Vegas for the Paris Casino. I imagine its construction techniques also varied greatly even from the ones used some 30+ years before in Ohio and about 30 years before in Virginia. It's also smaller than the French one, but larger than its US cousins...50 stories: http://www.vegas.com/attractions/on_the_st...iffeltower.html Opening day was, by 1972 standards, tremendously exciting. By the standards of today, there was very little pomp and circumstance. Lots of balloons, though! And the park itself would be a major disappointment in today's arena. It truly wasn't much more than a glorified county fair with a large wooden twin racing roller coaster. In reality, other than having a lot of undeveloped land and a much larger staff, there wasn't a tremendous difference in it and the Coney Island park Taft previously operated down on the banks of the mighty Ohio River. In many ways, though, Kings Island wasn't about the rides...it was about the EXPERIENCE. Entertainment everywhere, happy throngs of people...both customers and employees...and that wonderful feeling that anything could and might happen next...

Huh? What'd you ride this year that is now gone???? EDIT: Oh, I see...that's a lifetime count at Kings Island. Wow.

Hmmm....teaching the guests that if they want to eat, they should leave the park. Now there's a brilliant concept for higher profits...

Stay tuned. It may be. It may not be. In any event, CBS no longer owns the parks. Cedar Fair does. Things will change, even if they intend them to stay the same (which I don't think they do). And read on!

Interestingly, only ONE park appears in the slug line. States where the parks are located in the US, the District of Columbia and the city of Toronto are listed. But NO park name other than one....

Oh, my. I wonder if that means Wings becomes Famous Dave's... --The Interpreter, only half kidding (and hoping Bubba Gumps becomes The Bay Harbor Inn!)

In the public relations business, all press releases end with a slug line, which describes the business/company that is doing the release. This release from Wonderland today includes the slug line as revised since the closing: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive...6/14/c7111.html There's a lot of messages in that slug line, for those who can read between the lines.

Well, 2007 IS 35 years (sigh, I was there opening day...I feel VERY old all the sudden). I suppose there is some chance Cedar Fair will dig that stuff out and put it on display again. Let's hope!

And all those coasters beat records...with their cost, unreliability and down time. Thanks, but I'd rather NOT see record breakers. And with Cedar Fair taking on more than most think they can chew, I don't see them spending that kind of money at Kings Island or anywhere else for quite some time anyway. Not to mention that one of those record breaking attractions in the park right now is under investigation and it must be determined what is to be done about it...

In 1992. When you find the "Way Back" Machine, let me know. I want to be next.

Breaking records? Top Thrill Dragster beat records. Kingda Ka beat records. Son of Beast beat records. I, for one, would rather they built great, reliable attractions than focus on breaking records. Sigh.

Cedar Fair didn't go to the touble of buying Kings Island (and thus getting a monopoly on Ohio theme parks) so it could sell it to Busch or anyone else. They said they want to operate the park, and I, for one, believe them. They also say they understand that the Paramount Parks were family oriented, and that they intend to keep that focus. I believe that, too; at least for a while. As for reusing names across the chain, Paramount (and its predecessors) did it to; a la for instance Tomb Raider, Vortex, Top Gun, Boomerang Bay, Flight of Fear, Hurler, etc. And they were starting to engage in ride rotation. Miss CBS all you want...but it might get lonely over there...

You misunderstand. It was thrilling....to Viacom's profits, at one time....

Worry not...Cedar Fair can install the gazillion new trash receptacles that are doubtless planned for next year without removing a single roller coaster...unless, of course, they want to remove one for some other reason.

So, why didn't they?

Exactly. NO relationship between King Cobra and King Kobra except the names... I never said King Kobra was a Togo. I said two similar rides to King Cobra were still operational today...and they are...

But you can see FaceOff at the bottom right, and the water tower in Action Zone...So, again, 1999-2001. Anyone able to narrow it down more than that? Flight of Fear is clearly visible in that photo, too...or rather, the building is!

It has to be between 1999-2001, as Action Zone is there but King Cobra is, too. If we could just see over where Son of Beast now is, we would be able to date this more easily...

Oh, yes....The Tumble Bug. Only two left in the USA: Kennywood's Turtle and Conneaut Lake Park's Bug. The latter only reopened last Saturday!

Better they come off the ride doing that than do it during the ride... More than once I watched a ride op spray the entire cycling set of riders with a garden hose while the ride was operating....which always reminded me of a Maytag washer during the first spin cycle before the washer fills with water for the rinse...washer merrily spinning with occasional short bursts of water to help eliminate the...suds. Not many Rotors left. Great Adventure still has one. You rarely even see one at a fair anymore. There's a reason. Those babies were intense. The few left seldom operate as violently or wonderfully as the one at Kings Island did.

Free? I think not. And the upfront cost could be among the lowest of the costs...especially if things went badly awry. I think you underestimate the difference in philosophy between Paramount Parks (which might have allowed such a thing) and Cedar Fair, which almost definitely would NOT.

And then there are those of us who wonder how those things ever complied with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The access "door" on those things is so tiny...to put it mildly. You'd have thought the thing was replacing Scooby's Ghoster Coaster in the access department!

I always am astounded at the better quality of both the print and the motions (including the 4D effects), when I ride Spongebob in a park in a non-Paramount chain. I remain astounded that a park operating under the name of a movie studio did such astoundingly poor things in the movie/entertainment department. The lowpoint had to be that making of a movie show a few years back in the Paramount Theater. It was so bad that it was unintentionally and hysterically funny.

I don't see this as consistent with the image of Kings Island that Cedar Fair wants. Besides, think....what if the the absolute worst tragedy you can imagine happen did...during the show. Times are different nowadays. I just don't see a family theme park wanting that kind of entertainment. Then again, they do dive shows where the same potential exists, just less violently so...and probably far less likely.

I don't think CBS would have kept the Paramount name on the park itself. Why on earth would Cedar Fair do so? As to the movie theming, I can see that being phased out over a longer period of time, perhaps... Also, it is good to remember the park went from Lindner to: Paramount Communications Viacom (under various subsidiary companies) CBS Corporation I think the first two WERE good for the park. Far better than Carl Lindner would have been. As for CBS, I don't have time to preach again, you've heard it before, and besides, you saw it for yourself. CBS said they weren't interested in the park business. And then they proved it.