johnjniehaus

I just got a Silverwood ad on KIC today...guess someone found out I moved to Seattle

I think that would go over really well there

I was there for ACE Spring Conference and the food and wine was very well done!

So it's going to be similar to Dragonflier at Dollywood? If so that will be a fantastic addition to the park. Those little rides are pretty fun especially if they have an interesting layout. So is this confirmed to be going on the front of the park where they took out the flats or is it going in the back of the park in the T3/River Rapids area?

Wonderful glad to hear though it sucks it went down for literally the one weekend of coaster mania

I have said from the beginning I'm hoping this doesn't turn into the 1981 Bat 2.0 of being open a few years but only operating for less than one season combined If CP pulls the plug, either zamperla is going to make amends with them or CP is going to sue them over this failure. I mean come on even the original wasn't closed this often and it was an Intamin for crying out loud - the manufacturer who at the time was plagued with issues continuously! I hope all turns out well, they will thankfully have siren's curse to distract from the closure of TT2 but yeah at what point do they say they want a rollercoaster that can operate longer than only one month each season?

So to be fair the Reds and Bengals have sucked most of my life so they are easy teams to dump. I was never super into sports ton begin with, I probably attended one baseball game a year, never watched the games on TV, and just occasionally listened to one on the radio. I always bet against the reds with work friends and guess what - I won alot of free soda cans because they loose quite often. When they say Pete Rose bet on baseball but he never bet against the Reds, I say sure I bet on baseball and I ALWAYS bet against the Reds because they have not been a good team for most of my life and free soda has been more appealing than loyalty to a baseball team. So having said that you can obviously see that I am not the biggest sports fan. I never attended, watch, or listen to Bengals games either. Now as for where my loyalties now lie, I have never given two hoots about football so I don't see that changing. While I'll always like the Reds, until they get their crap together and actually get a good team it's easy to not be super loyal. My partner also has a cousin who is a rookie on the Mariners (Ben Williamson) so I'm kind of backing the Mariners especially considering I have met Ben and he seems like a super great guy.

If siren's curse was stolen couldn't one argue that we stole Orion from CGA? It's a nearly identical situation

Call me a traitor but Cedar Point is my personal favorite amusement park I've ever visited. By far the best coaster collection in the USA. Having said that do I think Kings Island can get deal a crummy hand sometimes - yes but in general I think Cedar Fair brought some very good rides to the park (Firehawk, Diamondback, Mystic, Orion, Banshee, WindSeeker, Water park expansion, Antique Autos, new childrens rides) I think some could argue that we received rides and coaster models that CP already had in order to keep KI down. Or you could argue that KI was so far behind in terms of coasters that we didn't have a B&M Invert, our newest woodie was 40+ years old, we didn't have a hyper or a giga. Now of course the loss of the paramount theming was a hard pill for some to swallow and the loss of certain rides during the transition (tomb raider, SOB, Action Theater most notably). Of course Vortex and Firehawk being retired back to back years hurt but they were aging and sometimes removals happen. Paramount made some removals in their time that may have been upsetting to some park fans as well - lion county safari monorail, King Cobra, and most notably the decision I would argue was the worst in park history: removing both antique car tracks and our beloved flying eagles. So you can like or not like certain decisions that CF and now SF is making at the park and the way they manage the park but it's all very debatable and nobody is forcing anyone to go to the park or buy a season pass. The higher ups don't want to see Kings Island fail because it's extremely profitable. They just tend to market Cedar Point and Kings Island to different people. Kings Island is situated to be the regional family park and Cedar Point is positioned to be the destination. That's how it is and always will be while they are owned by the same company and SF would be a fool to sell either one. Sometimes you have to look at other Midwest states and think to yourself - how did Ohio wind up with arguably two of the best parks in the entire USA?

Hey everyone just a heads up I have officially relocated to Seattle, WA! I just accepted a Horticulture position out here in the evergreen state and with that my home park is no longer Kings Island. I'll definitely miss it and will have to come back to visit every year or two (to see my family and hit up the park). So having said that, I just wanted to say a big thank you to the community of KIC for all of the entertaining forum conversation these past few years I've been a member and also say that I hope to keep posting on the forum (I have my secret agents who will keep me in the loop on the goings on at the park firsthand) So with that being said my new home park is Wild Waves in Federal Way, Washington. Wild Waves has 4 coasters including an arrow looper and an S&S woodie. One positive way to look at the coaster situation in Washington State is that despite not having a single B&M, Intamin, RMC, etc we have an Arrow and a Schwarzkopf! Two of my favorite classic manufacturers! So I will definitely continue traveling to different parks and will continue posting in the Trip Reports forums. I have connected with ACE out here and will be attending an event at the Enchanted Forest in Salem, OR. So yeah new beginnings here with the move but I know I'll always love Kings Island and I'll always keep up with the news and with the park. So my report of Wild Waves is that it was $75 for an annual pass with a free upgrade to gold. Included parking, admission, 3 guest tickets, and a souvenir bottle with $1.50 refills. The park itself is slightly charming with statues and fountains from its old days of being the enchanted village or whatever it was once upon a time. The rides lineup in general isn't stellar but it ok for a small park. They have a love affair with S&S having a woodie by then and also a Drop Tower. They also have quite a few zamperla rides. The Eli bridge Ferris wheel and scrambler rides are welcome classics too. One fun fact is that the splash boat ride was relocated from OpryLand so that is a cool piece of history. Overall it'll get me though the weeks between rollercoaster trips to better parks and hey who can complain about having an arrow looper in your backyard? If anyone is ever coming out here to visit Wild Waves, I'd highly suggest coming during the Puyallup State Fair so you can also get the coaster credits there including the Classic Coaster and the Wildcat!

Ouch! Any reason TT2 is down? That hurts bad after the disaster last year

PXL_20250525_015618048.TS.mp4

I just got to visit Lagoon in Salt Lake City, UT for the first time ever! I'll do a ranking of the coasters and also point out some fun flats I rode 1. Cannibal: it's big and bad but not as scary as it looks. Super smooth, great music, layout is decent although slow in some sections. Overall it was good but didn't blow be away. However, it's criminal not to put it at the top of the list 2. Primordial: holy crap this ride is fun! We had to wait 90 minutes both times we rode it but it is worth it! Great story and is pretty engaging. I liked it hands down between than wonder mountain guardian at Canada's Wonderland. The shooting aspect is enjoyable as well as the universal level theming during the ride with both screens and practical effects. Overall just an ok rollercoaster but arguably the best experience in the park 3. Collosus the Fire Dragon: gotta love an old classic Schwarzkopf and this one kicks butt and runs smoother than all the others I've ridden. It's smoother than the majority of B&M coasters. No rattle or shaking or anything. Just pure fun and it has great capacity in a park that is plagued by low capacity coasters. 4. Wicked: wonderful first half and boring second half. All around good but not great. The launch is punchy and the airtime over the top hat is great 5. Jet Star 2: super underrated ride. Ran smooth and pulled some very impressive Gs for such a small coasters. Once again it's wonderful to see a classic Schwarzkopf running so well 6. Rollercoaster: such a classic. Would be better with vintage trains but in general a nice ride. It didn't run rough but one could criticize its lack of airtime 7. Spider: fun spinning coaster. Got a couple good spins near the end despite the train being balanced 8. Wild Mouse: smooth and fun! Nice touch to have a tunnel and it wasn't too intense or too tame. 9. Bombora: fun little family coaster ride. Great onboard audio though the layout was just ok 10. The Bat: super rough and janky unfortunately. It has a nice color scheme but that's about all I can say for this Vekoma hang-n-bang 11. Puff the Little Fire Dragon: cute kids coaster but definitely very very mild Other fun attractions were the Horror Ride which was almost a mini version of Knoebels Haunted Mansion (yes it was definitely scary). The Dracula's Castle one was more along the lines of a portable haunted house fairgrounds rode so not as impressive. The park also had the second best Bisch-rocco flying scooter I've ridden after the one at Knoebels. Got more snaps here than at KD or Carowinds. They have an enterprise which was great fun and they had an Everly Rock-o-Plane which brings me back to my Coney Island childhood days in the early 2000s. Overall Lagoon had a wonderful lineup of attractions and the park was well taken care of. My only complaint is the $100 admission fee is pretty steep but I'm glad I got to experience it

What are you talking about? Magic Mountain has 20 something rollercoasters while other parks are basically rotting. I think six flags has their favorites just like any other chain does. What I'll say about future additions at KI is that while they may never be a 30million giga coaster again, at least we are getting improvements - food/bev, family rides, etc. some parks in the chain don't get anything and to be fair KI is pretty stacked as it is so compared to some other parks in the chain we're doing pretty good. Of course people always want to compare us to Cedar Point and will we ever be better than Cedar Point? Absolutely no way no how. Never going to happen but we all knew that when Cedar Fair bought Paramount. One could argue CP was still the better park even before they bought KI. But what I'd like to call attention to is that while we might not ever be better than CP, we are definitely better than probably 90% of the other parks in the merged SF chain all things considered. I don't think that is anything to complain about. Go live for a year in Oklahoma and have frontier city as your home park and then complain about Kings Island. I'd also like to add at least Kings Island is FIXING the monster and not REMOVING the monster. I'd actually take the preservation of a park original flat over getting anything new next year.

LAME! But I'll let it slide if we get a new ride inside the tomb raider building

Have fun! Give us a full report!

Can someone explain to me exactly what has been restructured with the retirement of Koontz? What job positions have been eliminated/combined by having Tony as the new manager of the park? I'm assuming there has been some restructuring and that Koontz wasn't simply replaced. Any explanation is appreciated. I do like the idea of our new manager having ties to the park from back in his early career so hopefully we are in good hands

My partner and I flew into DC and decided to spend a few hours at SFA before heading down to the ACE Spring Conference in Virginia. Six Flags America was a park I had only visited once previously and I personally never felt the need to go back except that my partner had never ridden a Vekoma flying Dutchman so he needed that credit before it becomes extinct. So takeaways from the experience is that the ops were much more friendly and active. The food and beverage service was still pretty abysmal. The rides still had a fair amount of downtime. We were able to get all the coaster credits except Superman which was down the entire day. Overall it was a better experience than the previous visit but still just an alright park. BGW spring con was such a wonderful time. We arrived at Busch a little after 6pm and rode a few rides before the evening ERT event on Pantheon, Apollo, Tempesto, Turkish Delight, and Trade Winds. My friends and I lapped Apollos Chariot and got one ride on all the others. The next morning we had ERT on Darkoaster, the wave Swinger, dogem, and Big Bad Wolf: The Revenge. After waiting nearly an hour for BBW, we finally got to ride. Overall it was a nice homage to the original although I'd take an arrow suspended coaster over a B&M family invert any day. The theming around the ride was fun and the Bavarian village section was what really got me excited. This ride will look much better once the trees have grown in around it. Overall not the most thrilling coaster but still fun. During the day we got the remaining coasters and also did escape from pompii. We ride the Rhine River Cruise and then headed over to Kings Dominion that afternoon. My partner and I returned to Busch on Monday to reride some coasters and hit up the remaining flats. We arrived at Kings Dominion and focused on riding the rides in Old Virginia before the evening ERT. We got rides on the flying eagles, the antique Cars, the log Flume, and grizzly. Grizzly was running FANTASTIC. The evening ERT was in jungle expedition on Tumbili, Rapterra, Reptilian, Arachanidia, and Backlot Stunt Coaster. We got 4 laps on Rapterra. I thought while it did have a slight bounce/rattle, it has a wonderful layout and is arguably the second best coaster in the park. Morning ERT was on Twisted Timbers, Apple Zapple, Carousel, troika, and Delirium. We also had lunch at the picnic pavilions and I won a vintage KD park map and a park map from SFOG from the ACE auction. We took a group photo at the Eiffel Tower and also were excited to go up in it after it has been down for a few seasons now. I think that KD has some great 50th anniversary merch but the overall decoration was definitely less than Kings Island. BGW looked fantastic as usual and the ACE event included a food and wine tasting card which we thoroughly enjoyed. Of course pantherian, verboten, and le scoot were closed during the trip. Pantherian looked like there was no activity going on so I have no clue what they are doing or when they plan to open it. Le scoot was testing over the weekend and is probably gearing up for a memorial Day weekend opening. The representative from BGW told us that they plan to have verboten up sometime in June. Hopefully both parks get those rides back up before the main season really kicks in.

I was at SFA this past Friday before driving down to the ACE Spring Conference. I thought the park was actually better than my previous visit in 2023 however, there's definitely a reason this place is getting shut down. I will post more thoughts in the trip reports topic

Yeah it's been a real bummer that it's going to be closed during spring con. And everyone knows that it's arguably their best coaster so anything they replaced it with wasn't going to be good enough. Now why they replaced it with backlot I have no idea when they could have done lights on ERT session on FoF

I 100% agree that Runaway Mine Train is one of the best! Probably my #5 in the park! I also love rodeo and the sombrero and the other western themed flats.

I went to the Lonestar Coasterthon at SFOT a few weeks ago and here is my report on the park and in the event. The event cost about $65 to attend plus travel and hotel obviously but the price of the event was minimal. They provided two meals both days and allowed us to use our ACE badges as fastlane all day both days. The event was very well run and the park employees were extremely kinda and accommodating with the exception of closing New TX Giant during ERT to remove a train because the crowd level was low. During the conference we presented shockwave with the rollercoaster landmark plaque which was something I've been advocating for years. It's a great ride and I hope the park invests some money into it now that it has been deemed to have historical value. I will say it needs a fresh coat of paint and probably some other things done to it. Still runs great but it was definitely making a lot of strange sounds as compared to my visit 3 years ago. I was able to snag the missing coaster credits I needed considering some rides were closed during my visit 3 years ago. I got judge Roy, mini Mine Train, and the children's coaster. It is also worth noting that I got my first ride on the original arrow log flume as well and it was very enjoyable. Overall great event and if anyone has any questions. Let's talk about it more

That's actually true... I mean CP probably has more flats and coasters than valleyfair and Dorney Park combined

CP could definitely use it although the age old argument is they get investments constantly it seems so maybe someone else needs it more. Can they give a nebulaZ to a smaller park and then funnel more coaster money at CP?

They are really consolidating and pumping up that area in the back by thunder run/storm chaser. I think it's worth noting they have two largish areas to work with - the front near lightning run and the back in the former T3 and river rapids area. I'm interested to see what the future holds for this park because this is a really big renovation