johnjniehaus

I actually love that. I've been saying they should do a camouflage color scheme on it and integrate it as a jungle base. Now the good ol junk yard coaster is the only ride that break the theming of the area...

I've been wanting to experience it but knowing my luck whatever night I get free to drive up there, it'll be sold out for a private event

I understand it's just rumors but it's a bit hard to turn down the emotions when most all the removal rumors have been proven to be true this far. Calm down, it's just a rumor that ka is going to close with no prior notice or final rides. Calm down it's just a rumor that the last Intamin bobsled is going to close with no chance at final rides. Calm down that Carowinds is losing 3 rides with no prior notice. I'm just saying that I have never put much stock in rumors but when they all start being proven as true, the possibility of ride removals at WoF can seem very real to alot of people

They just need to stop. What are they going to do, remove every enterprise rides across the entire chain? Also, what is wrong with mamba? Steel Force and Wild thing are the same model are they not? I can't see where mamba would be in any worse condition than the other two. Hopefully they hold off and any more removals. I love how they keep wanting to brag about their big investment in the parks over the next two years but then keep stripping parks of rides. It's like we'll give you a new ride but you get to lose 2-3 rides in exchange

It's professionally worded but my question is, Why Couldn't they have announced this back in early October and given people a chance for last rides??? I know their maintenance budget was cut under the merger but still the fact that there was never a chance for final rides almost stings more than the actual closures. Nighthawk had it coming, as did scream weaver, however I'm surprised about the Drop Tower.

All I'm going to say is that I think people will be more grateful about receiving an announcement about a closure rather than just waking up one day to find a coaster is gone. If anyone from the park is checking these forums, my request to you is if The Bat has reached it's final days, PLEASE let it close with fanfare and with final rides and love/support from it's fan base much like the park did with Vortex. I understand the need to move forward, I may not like or agree with all of the decisions, however, giving a chance at last rides is a very respectful way to close an aging attraction instead of acting like nobody cares about it or just tearing it down during the off season.

Hey thank you @Vortex1987 I never thought I'd ever get to have one but I'll definitely treasure it always . I hope your situation/circumstances improve. It was nice to get to chat about the park with you too.

I contacted Six Flags Over Texas the week before the La Vibora closure was confirmed and they denied it was being removed. Let's just say, while I don't see current evidence of The Bat closing or being demolished, the merged SF/CF chain has been dishonest and has broken trust with the guest resulting in me not really believing anything they say.

Same feeling here. The multiple coaster closures without any notice across the chain is making everyone feel really great about the merger

Unfortunately I don't think with the current leadership and ride removal trends that The Bat will last too much longer but I hope they can get a 5 year plan in the works to retire AND replace the older attractions they want to get rid of. For example we all know that boo blaster, Invertigo, and Congo have to be on the short list of soon to be removed rides and The Bat can't be too far behind them. If they could remove all 4 by the end of 2030 and have built a new dark ride, a new coaster in The Vortex plot, AND a coaster in the Invertigo/Congo plot, I'd say that would be acceptable. However, making no investment and only removing rides is not what anyone wants to see happen to the park. While I hope we never see the day that The Bat gives it's final rides, all I'm asking for Kings Island, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, or whoever is in charge of these decisions is PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE give the fans a 3-4 weeks notice like has historically been customary to do and don't just tear down a ride that has been a classic at the park for over 30 years without any word during the off season. I understand that rides get old and are removed but please Kings Island have the respect for the guest and the fans of the ride to at least give them a chance to get final rides if that decision ever has to be made

Does anyone know if you can find out if the International Street restaurant is sold out before you go to the park? I was hoping to eat there this week sometime as I have never been in that restaurant before. Also, does anyone know how much the buffet has cost in years past?

People came out for Firehawk and Vortex both. People went to CP for Mantis, Mean Streak, and Wicked Twister. I think some people would have traveled for nighthawk because the Vekoma flying Dutchman coasters are such a rare credit

As I said it's all about the money. The new combined chain has proven that money is much more important than customer satisfaction or doing what is morally right which is making announcements BEFORE people pay hundreds of dollars for a season pass for less product. To be fair most people would renew passes regardless but this isn't just an issue of "I didn't get to ride Kingda Ka one last time" (even though that is a valid problem and annoyance). This is a situation of complete lack of communication and denying the facts. Many people including myself were reaching out to the parks about the possibility of closures and they lied multiple times that no closures were planned even saying nothing was planned a week before Kingda Ka closed. Finally some closures were confirmed but there was never official press releases until after the coaster had already given final rides (unknown to most park goers) I don't understand the massive gutting of old attractions all in the same year with no notice and constant lying about it. The only reason I can come up with is MONEY. Money they are going to save by not investing in expensive, maintenance heavy rides, and the money they already got from unsuspecting customers who are now just "surprised" with the fact their favorite rollercoaster is no longer at the park

I know some of you will adjust but I'm young in age and old at heart and I'll complain about removals without notice till my final days. The industry can change all it wants but it doesn't mean I have to like it. It'll happen regardless of what I like but I can file complaints to the end of time

Well with the new way things are going I wouldn't be surprised but I don't understand why they couldn't just tell people when we had a chance to get last rides. Closing rides during the off season with absolutely no notice is unacceptable in my opinion. It's all about the money is what it boils down to.

Hmmm so we get ride of Ka and Dragster because of how many maintenance issues they had and Saudi can't seem to keep their super crazy coasters open on a reliable basis either so if we are having issues with 400' coasters, why would we be pushing it to 1000'? Sounds like a billion dollar failure in the making to me. Maybe they can pull it off but so far the track record of super tall and super fast coasters isn't very good. I thought we learned a lesson when Maverick opened in 2007 that a ride doesn't have to break records or have a large footprint as long as it is well designed with a unique layout and solid elements. Spiegel can say how far we have come from the days of PTC and I agree that we have but to the credit of PTC their coasters have an indefinite lifespan and still have good ridership. I hear so many kids at Kings Island say "this is my favorite ride" when I'm in line for The Racer. The Pheonix at Knoebels is still winning golden ticket awards. We may have come along way from PTC but they did build some pretty amazing rides for their time that are still thrilling and famously reliable. I have to say that PTC coaster don't seem to have as much maintenance and downtime as other coasters seem to have. Simpler days and times = better reliability I guess.

I think Kings Island will continue to see investment. My question is will we see as much and will we see thrill rides built again? Does CP continue to get all the record breaking new and unique coaster while we continue to get family coasters and flats? Again, I'm not complaining about getting new rides but I've been saying it and I know others are too (and it's just not enthusiasts mind you) who are ready for that next thrill attraction

It's just sad to see. Maybe it had some mechanical issues and they didn't want to relocate it again but I thought it was a decent ride when I rode it in 2022. Just shows you that stand-ups are still a dying breed.

I think someone will jump on it. Heck I don't have a ton of money but I'd take it for about $1k however I think you can get more from someone who isn't in college and saving up for a car (yes that's me). I personally think it's worth all of the $2k you're asking for it I just know that I can't pay you what it's worth at this time. I'm really sorry to hear you are going through a really hard time financially especially with it being the holiday season. I hope you get a good amount for it because I know it's painful to part with something rare that you were able to acquire because you financially need to do so. I'm very blessed to have a racer z-bar I won at an ACE auction and I know it would so hard to have to part with something like that. Hope you and your family can get through this difficult time and I feel confident that you will find an interested buyer

Yes I am aware of the merger but the company is now six flags and I was referring the the merged six flags company that currently owns all the legacy Cedar Fair and legacy six flags parks. The current six flags/Cedar Fair merged company doesn't care about the guest other than whatever money they can squeeze out of them hence the complete lack of honesty and transparency about multiple ride closures during the pass renewal season. That's my point is it was a financial decision to keep it on the downlow and it was very disrespectful to the fans of the park and fans of the coasters that were silently closed. As for Cedar Point being the best and staying at the top of the chain? Absolutely they will...that's been obvious from day one. I think we will see other parks get some good investments but CP will ALWAYS be #1. I think we will see some good things come from the merger but I don't think that betraying the confidence of your consumer by selling passes and then removing multiple rides without any official announcements or last rides is starting things out on the right foot. I'm going to continue loving the coasters and the parks but I definitely think the fans and the public have every right to have disappointed and upset feelings about the lack of announcements and transparency out ride removals. I think everyone has a right to say "six flags should be better than this"

Probably, because they know they can get the money. I personally won't be buying one even if they did. Nothing against anyone who does but in my perfect world the fans of ka would all unite and stick it to the park that they refuse to pay $300-$500 for a small piece of scrap after the park refused to be upfront about the closure plans. To me it's insulting to expect fans to pay hundreds of dollars for a track slice of a coaster you didn't even have the common decency to notify the public of the impending closure. I hope they do offer track for sale because it would mean alot to the fans of the ride but I still think it's morally wrong to not tell people an iconic coaster is closing and then to have the gall to offer track for sale for hundreds of dollars. Six Flags has proven they have no respect for the fans and they don't care about them. They only care about money hence Ka was closed because it was too expensive to maintain, hence they refused to notify the public so their pass sales didn't tank, and hence they will sell off the track for hundreds of dollars not because they care about the fans but because they can make some really good $$$ off selling them scrap

I got to go up to KI for a few hours last night and saw tinker's toy factory, rode racer 3x and Flight of Cheer. Ate at the brewhouse and then got the cranberry pull apart break to take home for my grandma. One thing I have always loved about tinker's toy factory is the fact some of the actors/dancers have been returning for years. Has anyone seen the regular Poindexter this year as I have seen the show twice and have gotten different poindexters each time. Obviously the original tinker is back and Santa is always the same guy but I was wondering if the old Poindexter actor decided not to do the show this year or if I haven't been there on a night he was working....?

I had that Meatloaf Burger on Saturday and they should have that all year long. It was really good!

Really really good visit this evening at Winterfest. Got to see two shows and got most of the rides as well. In terms of shows, I saw tinker's toy factory which is my favorite show at the park. Also did peanuts Guide to Christmas. Might try and get a few others in the coming weeks but as others have pointed out, all the shows start at the same times making it difficult to get them all in during one evening at the park especially considering that on Sat the final showing of most of them is 7:30. At least Fri has that 9:30 show. Ate at the brewhouse and that holiday meatloaf burger with the muenster cheese was amazing. They should have that all the time! Also picked up a couple cookies at the sweet spot. Ride Count of the night was as follows - Flight of Cheer: 2x Racer (Blue): 2x Racer (Red): 1x Mystic Timbers: 1x Snoopy's Soap Box Racers: 1x Franklin's Flyers: 1x Shake Rattle & Roll: 1x Scrambler: 1x Sol Spin: 1x Cargo Loco: 1x Dogem: 1x Zephyr: 1x Grand Carousel: 1x Boo Blaster: 1x Holly Jolly Trolley: 1x

I'm going up there tonight... unfortunately probably no racer rides but I'll let you all know what I get to do and what my experience is