johnjniehaus

So first of all this ride looks dynamite! Appears to have good speed, is a decently lengthy layout, unique inversions, and good airtime moments... I'm not sure if I'm totally sold on the car/hotrod theme seeing as we already have 2 car themed rides in that area. However, I love the idea of it paying homage to demon and Vortex (especially with the underground boomerang inversion). I would say I prefer this idea to anything else suggested on the forum so far.

I voted for racer. I think our weather might be hard on the steel coasters running during winterfest. Somebody told me (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) that wooden coasters can operate at colder temps than steel coasters can. I would love to see Adventure Express run during winterfest but I don't know if it can run in the colder weather or not. Woodstock Express and Backlot Stunt Coaster would also be interesting....

Or it will get sold at an auction like Firehawk sign did .....

I'm super excited to see any defunct coaster types go back into production so my vote was the Premier- Schwarzkopf WildCat 2.0 Schwarzkopf had some of the most unique looking coaster and flat ride designs out there and I'm for reviving any and all of them! I personally was really excited about the standup retuning in the form of Sea World Surf Coaster seeing as I'm a standup fan and their numbers are dwindling. Hopefully that ride is very successful! I really want to see the Arrow Suspended Coaster model make a comeback. Those are so much fun and I am so thankful we still have 2 in Ohio of the 5 remaining. Long live The Bat and Iron Dragon!

It will be very unfortunate if they don't bring back the iconic sign in some way. Like maybe they have a new one to match the rest of adventure Port but bring the old one back as a Easter egg in the AE que or put it inside the new restaurant or something. As for the dedication rock it needs to be included in the new area in some fashion as well.

Here's some pictures I took tonight. And I have no clue as to why my font is red in my review above..... :-)

My first night at 2022 Winterfest - first off I rode FoF which had a technical delay so had to wait it out. Not too bad just a 20 min delay (catch up on my RCT Classic while waiting). Next run over to Mystic Timbers and THEY HAVE SINGLE RIDER LINE! (So that was a short wait) next went over and got Tinker Toy Factory in it's new location at the KI Theater. I personally was one of the fans of the controversial Charlie Brown Christmas Spectacular Show, however I was really happy to see Tinker take it's place. Let me be clear that I loved that Peanuts show and I'm rooting for a reboot next year, however if it's brought back, it should be moved to a different location because Tinker utilized the KI Theater much better. I always thought the festhaus was too noisy and it was hard to hear the show (Tinker) when it was performed in there. The new sets and slightly modified show were all amazing....so I watched it 3x. (5:30, 6:30, & 7:30) then for some reason there aren't any more showings? Kinda weird because I thought they used to do one at 9:30 because my sister and I would always watch it in festhaus last and then leave the park. Idk it's kinda weird that the last showing is at 7:30 on Saturday but I'm sure it's nice for the cast (who by the way are awesome as always!) So glad to see Santa Jim back again this year in the show (if you believe in Santa he's the real deal...) I'm pretty sure that Poindexter and Tinker are also the same actors from previous years/shows (although I did get shows with different Tinker actors) anyway I'll be back next weekend to check out the remaining shows and rides. So far so good - I do miss Charlie Brown Christmas Spictactular so the new festhaus show had better be stinking awesome (since that's more or less what replaced it) Hope you all are enjoying winterfest as well!

Nice to see the Zodiac make an appearance at 17:15. Great footage! I've always relied on the Cincinnati Kids episode of The Brady Bunch to get a feel for how the park was back in the early years.

I would love to know which manufacturer would want to take on that job....S&S acquired Arrow but they seem to have moved on from the Arrow Designs and Coaster Types. I would just be curious to see if they would even consider manufacturing new mine ride track and altering an Arrow Dynamics ride....

I really like this concept of connecting Action Zone and area 72 with a new safari themed area. One can wish right? I personally don't think The Bat is going to last forever (some may disagree but if they decided to axe Firehawk and Vortex because of maintenance costs, I can't see them keeping The Bat which will be very sad when that day comes) anyway, the logistics of The Bat currently makes no sense why you have to walk 3 miles to get to it and if you somehow replaced it with a new coaster(s) and a safari themed area that connects to area 72 I think it would be a huge win for the park in the long run. However, to answer the question the thread is about - What would I invest in located in Mason, OH? I would invest in a themed hotel that pays homage to King Island coasters. Theme the rooms to different coasters or rides. I think it would be really cool and kick the idea of the ride themed up a notch if you could stay in a themed room. For example, you could do a terrific themed room off Orion/Area 72 with the whole prototype space theme. Mystic Timbers, Banshee, Beast, Adventure Express are also all prime candidates for themed hotel rooms. As for the location, the site of the former Kings Island Hotel right across the street is prime real estate and I'm not sure what they are using that property for right now but it always looks sad and abandoned....and why the heck do they still have a sign by the road for a hotel that hasn't existed in years?!

Well according to rumors Vortex was sinking for 20 years or more so Banshee will get the axe around 2040 at this rate. I never thought Banshee was really bad with it's rattling given I try to avoid the back because of the hip crushing restraints however, I got at front row ride on 10/29 with my 8 year old sister (her first time ride) and it was amazing how much smoother it was! Like the difference between row 1 and rows 3-4 is crazy so I can only imagine the difference between rows 1 and 8.

Best Amusement Park Employees of 2022 (during my travels) #1. Six Flags Over TX Shockwave ride crew was crushing it! Hopefully they win employees of the year awards or something because they had 2 ops on a coaster that could have had twice that many easily and they were still getting the trains dispatched quickly and they also had great fun doing it. I know a lot of parks are short staffed and the employees probably have to work annoying shifts and cover for the lack of workers but the Shockwave crew was amazing! #2. Dori and Ethan on Busch Gardens Williamsburg coaster insiders tour. They were absolutely amazing and acted like they had known you for 20 years! So informative and just made that tour one of my top amusement park memories of the year! #3. Pheonix at Knobles has very good ops during my visit. Super fast, friendly, all of the above, and etc etc etc #4. Magnum XL 200 ops Cedar Point also had timely dispatches and were alot of fun. Wore my six flags magic mountain shirt I bought on my trip to CA and got in a conversation with a younger op about SFMM. He said he really wants to go and was asking me all sorts of questions. (End of night when Magnum isn't very busy) much better than the annoying guest who yelled at me about being a long way from home and I wore the wrong shirt to the park. I was thinking yeah I'm actually about 4 hrs from my home in Cincy but think whatever you want lady.... #5 Lakemont Park ops gave me 2 free rides on Skyliner and Leap the Dips because I guess they are awesome! When does anyone at an amusement park give you anything for free?! Pretty good ops if you ask me!

https://www.fox23.com/news/exclusive-state-recommends-historic-status-expo-square-skyride-after-fox23-investigations/QD2VEV23PZBA7FTCNCZK36WUHY/ Did anyone else see this article? I think our dreams of seeing the CAGA Skyride relocated just got dashed to pieces. Guess there's some issues about von roll skyrides being moved. They are grandfathered in around the current building codes and that they can't be relocated because they aren't up to "new building codes" or something? Can anyone shed any light on the topic of von roll Skyride relocation because if you can't relocate then I guess the CAGA one is going to the scrap yard....

Hey thanks for the info! Glad to hear my "spies" were wrong! Lol. I didn't think it really had to do with freefall accident but wasn't sure. The wind closure makes sense and I had no clue about the lightning strikes this season. Does that happen often or has this been a bad year for lightning strikes?

A bit off topic, and if this has been covered already in a 2022 discussion I apologize and if you would redirect me. The question is does anyone know what is going on with Drop Tower? First, they repaint the tower, then the Orlando Free fall accident occurs and ever since it has had very sparse operation and since late July (from my visit and my personal spies reports) it has been closed and currently appears to have a tarp over the seats to prepare for winter. So why has it been closed so much? Anyone have any info on Drop Tower in 2022?

Hey cool sats! My most ridden coaster at the park is Adventure Express just because my sister and I would marathon it every Tuesday in 2019. The operators even started to catch on and ask "we're you here last Tuesday?" Or say "you ride this a lot don't you?" Or " I see you here alot".

Couldn't have asked for a better 50th so what was my fav thing? #1. Beast re-tracking! If there was any doubt about The Beast being one of the best in the park, the re-tracking has solidified it as such. The wait time has been up a ton as well so I think a lot of people have realized how much better/smoother it is now. However, I also loved the shows, repainting of other attractions, and new food offerings. Wish alot of that would stuck around for next season too as it's really elevated the park experience. I'd love to see a continuation of high tech fireworks shows and a return of phantom theater encore. Also the special food items themed to defunct rides was not only good but really elevated the dining. I've never been one to eat in the park but this year I was curious as to what each location has to celebrate the 50th and which previous attractions they represented. Very awesome!

I say let it sit...who are we to name a realistic price on a rare historical item unless we're potential buyers? Unless you are a buyer looking to reach an agreement with the seller, who cares wether it sits or not? Who cares if it gets relisted 100x if you aren't an interested buyer? Who needs to say anything unless you are a potential buyer? I don't understand why anyone would tell this seller that he needs to lower his price. I agree it's WAY too high but after it sits for 10 years, inflation will have gone up so much that 11k might be reasonable then! Lol.... couldn't resist a joke about inflation. Minimum wage might be $100hr in 10 years. Leave this guy alone and let the product sit. Either he'll figure it out on his own and lower the price or maybe he doesn't actually want to sell it that much. There's a difference between trying to sell and item for what it's worth and trying to get rich off an item. Kwim?

This is the only pic I have....one more night ride on The Beast before it goes into hibernation. (Thanks for the re-tracking KI! Best 50th Anniversary gift ever!)

I got to Williamsburg this summer and I definitely want to do the Tampa location in 2023. Busch Gardens has such a good lineup and at least at Williamsburg their maintenance is immaculate. Loch Ness Monster is SO SMOOTH for an Arrow Dynamics coaster....can tell they take pride in maintaining it.

Interesting.....I personally felt like Backlot was barely clearing the helix this year so not surprised it's had a few rollbacks.

Standing in line for The Bat, someone going on about how The Vortex was sinking and was too expensive to fix... Does anyone know wether there was any incident or indication once upon a time that caused this to be a rumor?

I love Vekoma Mad House rides and that would be a solid replacement. Probably a better chance Kings Island will bring back the Wild Animal Safari Monorails than give us a madhouse but one can hope!

I've been to the following parks - Kings Island, Cedar Point, Strickers Grove, Coney Island (Cincinnati), Kentucky Kingdom, Kennywood, Knobles, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Hershey Park, Camden Park, Lakemont Park, Universal Studios, Universal Island of Adventure, Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom), Six Flags Over TX, Six Flags Over GA, Six Flags Great America, Six Flags St Louis, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dollywood. I haven't been to Dollywood since 2013 so that one is probably due for a revisit.

I love how the park has continued being back the modern equivalents of previous attractions and I personally feel like the Phantom Theater deserves to be next. God knows when we're going to get a coaster to replace Vortex but I would be more than happy to wait if we got a phantom theater announcement! (This is coming from someone who was born the year it closed so no memory of it whatsoever). I think it looked like a killer dark ride and give it a really good theme and story it could rival many park's dark rides. I think the action theater is the perfect location if it's a big enough building. If not it's probably still the perfect location. I would also love to see something done with the old Tomb raider building. Does anyone else think that the hype of reopening the crypt would be way more epic than what's in the shed? I mean nobody has been inside the Crypt for 10 years.... what is going on in there? Wether it's a top spin or drop ride like tower of terror themed to an archeology dig shaft it would be awesome and probably the best themed/story ride given the legacy Tomb Raider the ride and The Crypt left behind. Not quite sure how it fits with the Rivertown theme but hey it was epic before and didn't really fit...I just think it would be epic to reopen the crypt and take an adventure into whatever madness awaits us in the darkness of that building