johnjniehaus

I was able to do the Winterfest Holiday Buffet last night at the international restaurant. I thought the food was good and the restaurant is beautiful. For $40 it was worth it. I do question if $130 for NYE is worth it or not considering that's more than you'd pay for a meal at Jeff Ruby's. Last night I was able to get rides in on Racer, FoF (lights on), Mystic Timbers, cargo loco, zephyr, and boo Blaster. My dad, sister, and I all made master blaster which is what happens when all 3 guns in your vehicle actually work.

I agree that magic mountain is VERY coaster heavy and I could see them loosing Superman, Viper, Ninja, and X2. The Jet Stream Flume ride would most likely close with Ninja as they are kind of intertwined. I don't want to see magic mountain have coasters stripped out but unfortunately they have some aging ones that are unreliable and could get the same treatment as SFGAv... Now I don't think the executives are purposely ripping out rides at other parks to promote CP or anything but I do think it's interesting that CP gets 3 coasters investments back to back to back years and still has 5 operational arrow coasters while arrows everywhere else are reaching the end of their service life and other parks can't seem to get a new coaster for years and years. CP just closed Snake River Falls and their sky coaster but I'd bet high stakes that they don't leave that plot empty for 5 seasons like Kings Island has done with The Vortex plot

Last time I checked The Vortex plot has been empty for 5 seasons now...

If corporate Cedar Fair called for budget cuts and mass ride removals perhaps the parks were not given opportunities to offer final rides. I'm not sure if the decision for ride removals was planned months in advance or if it was a quick end of season, knew jerk, type of move across the board. However, if The Bat escapes the initial purge and is open next year I would hope they would announce late summer that they plan to remove by the end of the season (provided that is the plan)

Unfortunately you are probably right. Ninja at magic mountain could also be a soon to be removed coaster. I think we will see more removals at the bigger parks that can afford to replace them over time. I think parks like Michigans Adventure,. Frontier City, Great Escape, etc might be able to hold onto their older coasters since SF isn't looking to invest in those parks to replace those rides with anything. It's also more detrimental for a small park to lose a coaster than a larger park like Kings Island

Unfortunate for sure. This has to be upper management purging rides and cost cutting. I don't agree with the decision of mass closures without notice or final rides but I am thankful to have ridden Anaconda. I actually really enjoyed it and didn't think it was rough and it had a unique layout over the lake. Sad to see it go but maybe a new coaster could take it's place over the lake - such a great location/setting at KD

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