johnjniehaus

Here's the ones that keep me up at night - What ever happened to the zodiac after Wonderland Sydney closed (I get mixed info including it was relocated to South East Asia and put into storage or it was scrapped)? Would Phantom Theater still be popular if it hadn't been changed and was 30+ years old? How bad would the animatronics/special effects look after all that time? How much longer will The Bat last? It will be a sad day when it goes... Will they ever find a way to turn the blue racer backwards again? Why did Kings Island: a Photographic Journey skip over/leave out Days of Thunder?

Thought I'd revisit this thread and say I agree with not being a fan of monster ops. Loading 3 arms vs 4-6 seems very slow and reduces capacity. I get they want to have less ops on each side but monster is one that it would be worth keeping 3 ops on. Now that you mention it I have noticed surf dog has been closed a lot this season...

And people thought Vortex was sinking/too dangerous to ride?

I could see a mini land developed near the back of Coney mall themed to 1950s route 66 or whatever. A stunt car overhaul would be welcome thematically however, I personally just think it's not a very good coaster. How much money do you really want to invest in a coaster that just isn't that good to begin with theming and scenery aside? If it's between overhaul stunt cars or overhaul/refurbish FoF I'm going to say FoF because it's a major ride that fits the theme of area 72 extremely well and it's gotten really rough in recent years. (The KD version was so much smoother this year). Just my opinion for what it's worth...

Yeah that's my prediction too unfortunately. I'm not a waterpark person so SC additions might as well be a nothing year for me. I mean at least the water park fans are happy. I'd much prefer to see a new gen vekoma or new dark ride (either boo blaster re-do or crypt building) in 2025.

The Golden Tickets is always a fun thing and I've never taken them too seriously because it is voters opinions at the end of the day. I will say that last time I went to Dollywood was 2013 and every year recently I see them win a lot of the golden ticket awards. I have just found it difficult to drive 5 hours and then pay $85 plus parking to go there for what they have on paper (RMC, Arrow Looper, winged, eurofighter, wooden, family coasters). Silver Dollar City is actually much higher on my bucket list because of time traveler and would be similar in terms of pricing (bit further drive though). I do agree that parks with more ace events usually are rewarded with higher votes and parks with more traffic are going to get more votes as well. Dollywood is huge for tourists and Cedar Point is still a heavy tourist traffic park. For me personally, I-305 is the #1 steel coaster and The Beast still holds #1 for Woodies (Pheonix being a close #2). I was happy to see that BGW took the most beautiful park back from Dollywood. As I said I've not been to Dollywood for a long time so maybe they are deserving of the award but I have high respect for BGW and their grounds and maintenance team. That park is the most picturesque I've ever visited. I also have never been to Holiday World so I'm going to attempt to remedy that this October. Working full time and going to college doesn't leave much time for weekend getaways so hopefully it works out. I really want to see if the Voyage can top The Beast for #1 woodie for me.

I took the behind the scenes tour at BGW (which is really good btw) in 2022 and we got to tour the loch Ness maintenance area and I will say looking at all the work they do on the ride and how smoothly it runs for its age and design, you can tell that it's being well preserved. I know one of the maintenance guys told me that in 20 years he thought the track would be shot so hopefully whatever the restoration project entails is extending that lifespan further. Of course others have pointed out that metal coaster lifespan is an indefinite thing with tons of contributing factors one of which is how much maintenance and upkeep is done on the ride. I personally think that BGW is doing a really good job on this ride. If only they had cared for Big Bad Wolf in the same way... if I could time travel BBW is definitely in my top 5 wish I could have ridden coasters.

I personally don't like being scared but it's not a big enough deterrent for me not to go to the park and get lots of awesome night rides during haunt. Would I prefer the monsters/actors only be in the mazes? Yes, because I prefer not to be scared/jumped. However, I do understand that Haunt is it's own event and that people who are really into that stuff would be disappointed if the roaming monsters/actors went away all together because then their only option would be waiting in the long scare maze lines. I see both sides of the argument. As for me, the last two years I've attended haunt solely for the purpose of getting lots of night rides seeing as scare mazes, actors, monsters, etc is not really my thing.

I've ridden the monster for years and I've never seen them load 3 arms until this year. Maybe they have other years/days and I have never been at the park when they do. I do know that typically they have 3 operators (1 in the control booth and 2 on the ground loading the arms). For years and years I've seen them load two then skip one and rotate it and load two more. 4 arms and 2 stops. I'm not sure how "balanced" the ride is but that's how it's been operated for years (at least whenever I've been there and rode it from 2014-2022). Only on a Saturday have I ever seen them load all 6 arms making 3 stops.

From news articles I've seen and BGW website it sounds like Loch Ness Monster is getting a full restoration/refurbishment. I can't wait to see what they do and I hope this is also a maintenance refurbishment as well to keep this coaster in prime condition for many more years. I've always thought that BGW takes good care of this ride and this has only reaffirmed my belief that they are looking to keep this coaster around for a long time. Such a great ride and is actually one of the smoother arrow loopers in operation.

Yeah I can see the balancing thing but my question was is it more efficient to have one ground operator load all the right arms (3 arms total, moving the ride three different times into loading position) or to load 4 arms making the op run to the far side but only have to move the ride into loading position twice. I'm also thinking capacity wise here. Does the extra time it takes to walk across the loading area and check the far arm take longer than cutting capacity by 4 vehicles (one arm) per cycle and having to reposition the ride an additional time? Whenever I rode it I had to wait 3 cycles before I was on so the loading procedure was definitely because of only having one op not because it wasn't busy.

The Monster is one of my favorite KI flats and I thought I'd ride it since I was up at the park alone last Sat (rest of my family says Monster is nauseating) and I am curious as to what is going on with it and why... First, they are loading 3 arms now instead of 4 or 6. I'm assuming that this is due to only having 2 operators (only one of which is on the ground) however, is it actually more efficient to have to reposition the arms 3x instead of just twice (loading 4 arms)? The 3 arm loading system seems very inefficient to me because of the additional reposition and less riders are able to ride during a cycle. Second, the ride seemed slow. So the actual spinning was normal but the center rotating piece that lifts and drops the arms seemed very slow. Usually the monster drops quick enough to give a mild stomach drop however last Saturday it seemed to be as mild as when it's in the lock position as it slowly went up and slowly went down at a more gradual pace. Third, I thought some of the lights were missing on the arms. (I am not always the most observant individual so this could very well be the way it's always been and I've just now noticed it) Anyone else experience the Monster recently and can anyone give further info on it? Anyone else experience a "slow" ride on it? Can anyone explain why they think loading 3 arms is better than 4?

I don't think the long term plan was to allow Vortex site to sit this long. For example whatever plans they had were probably totally changed by the pandemic and the TTD accident that forced millions to be spent on Cedar Point and I'm sure they are liable in whatever lawsuits were filed against them as well. However, I really do hope they can put a bandaid on Invertigo and congo falls until they are in the position to replace them. Actually if they were to be forced to remove them, I'd prefer to see the new coaster be put in their spot immediately. (I've actually gotten kind of use to seeing the empty field in the back of Coney mall and if they've waited this long, they can tear down and build a replacement for Invertigo and congo before addressing The Vortex plot. Besides the drones are a nice touch to the fireworks and the launch pad for them is in The Vortex station area currently) All I'm saying is if Invertigo and congo lifespan can't be prolonged I would prefer that they are immediately replaced instead of them filling an area in the back of the park first and leaving us with a new vacant location right in the front of the park where everyone coming in with be welcomed with a big plot of nothing

I wish Don best of luck on the next chapter of his life/career and I will always still go back in the KI blog posts to read his articles. He is one of the best authorities/sources on park history (along with "Shaggy" of course) and all around a wonderful guy that we will miss dearly.

Today was the last hurray before college starts so came up with my family... Always a good time of course rode most all major coasters and sol spin, dogem, and antique autos. Had my little sister with me and decided to give the space buggies a whirl seeing as it's the only ride in the park I have yet to ride and guess what apparently she's tall enough that she no longer needs an adult according to the operators so I still couldn't ride the space buggies... If anyone is interested in renting me a kid short enough to need a supervising companion for 5 minutes... Anyway I guess I'll have to wait until I have kids down the road to finally get the final KI ride credit

I would love to see holiday overlay however, I would settle to just have more rides/coasters operating during WF. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about the older rides VS Ohio winter temps but if there was any way to have additional coasters running, I would love to see that - especially Adventure Express as winterfest is usually more family focused and it would fit that target audience extremely well

Would have been nice if somehow they had all the drummers working for the new pov (I noticed at least two that were sleeping on the job). Also, does anyone have any idea what ever happened to those spinx looking heads/masks that were formerly on the first lift hill? Back in the winter/spring KI posted a picture of them repainted on social media and they haven't been seen or heard of since as far as I know...

I am really excited to see what future years hold...vekoma is making some really good looking coasters and I hope we see a return of their projects to the US.

Don is a great guy and I'm glad there's going to be another buc-ee's in the neighborhood. Whatever Don is doing now or wherever life has taken him I just want to say he was one of the best in the industry and he will be missed but I'll always remember his blog posts, interviews, and updates on the park!

Did we ever get any announcement from Knott's?

I personally think they will push off The Vortex plot even longer. There's been no hurry to fill it thus far and I don't think they will be in a hurry in the future either. I personally think we see a Soak City addition next year or perhaps a boo blaster revamp/new dark ride in crypt building come to fruition in 2025. I could definitely see them holding off until 2027 or 2028 before filling the hole left by Vortex

Looks like a really cool book! There's so many untold stories in the amusement park industry. Just imagine if someone like John Allen or Anton Schwarzkopf had written a book about the different coaster projects they completed.

I rode the boo blaster at Carowinds and while I can't speak for CW or KD I can say the Carowinds one seems better maintained and the scoring system is better. It shows that boo blaster at KI was a repurposed Omni mover formerly known as phantom Theater. I have thought all year that maintenance on boo blaster at KI has been bad with a lot of animatronics and strobe lights not working, guns not working, scoring system not registering type issues.

I personally think that we will see something big for 2025 but it won't be a rollercoaster. I think the park is in no hurry to replace Vortex at this point and 2026/27/28 is probably more likely. I could see them doing Phantom Theater 2025 as a big expensive addition or perhaps they do a new dark ride with the tomb raider building. Obviously we have no Idea what rides could be removed in the coming year....

My only concern is that they will require you to have a kid to ride this... hopefully it's like flying ace and Woodstock Express where adults can ride too without stealing someone's kid