johnjniehaus

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

If the existing theming would actually be restored to working order it would be something. So, I'm definitely for mist/fog... runaway mine train at six flags over tx had a fog machine in it's first tunnel (for fright fest probably) but it added a really cool touch to the ride experience. They should definitely do something like that with AE 3rd tunnel because it's so fast it'll be over before anyone has the chance to suffocate in the fog. Anyway, I would like to see the final tunel repainted and updated with better audio. Other tunnels just spruce up what is there. The ride should have some projection lights or something to light up the trees or scenery at night. Basically enhance the night Rides. Even if they just touch up the que and add a few thematic elements like they did FoF que when building Orion (meteor with mist, barrels, etc) One final thing is probably something I only have an issue with how boring the que tunnel is...like I would like to be able to watch as they dispatch the trains because that's so much more interesting than watching the fun TVs! As it's constructed currently, I have to squint through the cracks in the boards to watch the dispatched trains. Makes the line feel shorter if you can watch the ride while waiting. Sadly Firehawk was the master of that... you could see the entire circuit from that que!

Ok visited Six Flags Over Texas (10/10/22) and here's my thoughts/experience 1. This park is SO CONFUSING to navigate. The Dallas/Ft Worth airport was easier to get around than the park was! I got lost/couldn't find the entrance for a ride on 3 separate occasions. Even the employees couldn't tell me where the entrance to Titan was! 2. Plagued by typical Six Flags understaffing issues. They really need to start fixing some of that. Judge Roy Scream and Mini Mine Train were both closed the entire day and countless flat rides weren't open either. If Six Flags doesn't want to be the Walmart amusement park chain and wants to start charging Busch Gardens and Dollywood prices, they absolutely MUST have all the rides that are able to operate open. 3. They don't get enough credit for their unique coaster collection...I was actually surprised In the diversity of coasters and thrill levels. This was a really good lineup. New TX Giant was a great RMC and I didn't mind that it doesn't have inversions. Titan while not a traditional hyper is still a good ride and one of only two giovanolla hypers. Shockwave is the #1 Schwarzkopf coaster I've ridden and the back row ejector airtime is rivaled only by pheonix at Knobles. Runaway Mountain was a really neat premier rides indoor coaster and La Vibora was my second (and preferred) bobsled credit after Flying Turns at Knobles. Runaway Mine Train was really good for an early arrow mine train and had great pacing and 2 awesome tunnel sections and of course the saloon! The clones (Mr Freeze, Batman, Pandemonium, Joker Freespin) were all running smoothly and were enjoyable as well. 4. The ride ops were really good! Most six flags parks don't have enough ride ops and Over TX seemed to be short staffed but the ops they did have were working hard with a smile on their face. For example, Six Flags Over GA has 5 ops in station and 2 for seat assigning/fast pass line and all 7 seemed to have got up on the wrong side of the bed. Over Tx had 2 ops working Shockwave who were super energetic and were giving high-fives plus they were dispatching trains WAY faster than GA was on Mindbender. The Shockwave ops needed the employees of the year award they were so good! This is probably my last out of state amusement park trip for 2022. Making my list for 2023....any suggestions?

Ok so at first, I was thinking why the heck are they talking about moving a 30+ year old ride? Like either leave it alone or tear it down for something better.... however your art here has sold me on the idea. Tear down the monstrosity of an eye sore previously known as The Crypt and move Congo Fall over to Rivertown. Looks amazing but sadly this will probably never actually happen.

I voted for the current day because I do feel like Cedar Fair made pretty solid additions. If I could travel back to a year of Kings Island park history and visit the park it would be 1983 or 2000. If traveling to 1983, I would be able to ride the original Bat, Screamin Demon, Zodiac, Enchanted Voyage, Safari, Der Spinnen Keggers... If traveling to 2000 it would be son of The Beast, king Cobra, action theater, backwards racer, phantom theater... I personally think that the 1980s was a great era for the park. The Bat while short-lived and problematic was very bold addition, viking fury is probably the best swinging ship ride I've ridden, backwards racer (I never rode it) according to my family was great, king Cobra was first standup on US soil, Vortex stood solid for 30+ years, white water canyon was huge too! The 1990s are mixed to me. For example Adventure Express is the second to last arrow mine train built and Top Gun was the final Arrow Suspended Coaster installed. Obviously those rides are great and are still operating and if The Bat (aka Top Gun) closed next year it would be dearly missed but like Vortex it's done it's time and paid it's debt to the park. Invertigo/Face Off has aged rather poorly and seems irrelevant now that Banshee is right across the street. In my opinion the 2 revolutionary additions in the 90s were Flight of Fear/Outer Limits and Drop Tower (which remains the world's tallest gyro drop). Other 90s attractions such as Phantom Theater, Action Theater, and flight commander didn't stand the test of time. The 90s also saw the closure of the Wild Animal Safari, Der Spinnen Keggers, flying Dutchman, Skylab, the Ferris wheel, enchanted voyage, and the giant slide. However to truly answer the question, I think whatever decade your teenage years and young adult years are/were is the best decade at Kings Island. My grandma will of course say how she loved the park in the 1970s and how she misses the fresh made bread and the Skyride and the enchanted voyage and the safari....my dad will say 1990s because he remembers waiting for Top Gun and Flight of Fear during their opening years and how different and "great" those coasters were to him. He will also always say how much he misses Action Theater/Days of Thunder, Flying Eagles, and King Cobra. I am a vote for our current decade because I love all the additions I've seen in my teen/young adult years.

See I always get corrected when I say Diamondback is longer than Orion but I'm talking about ride time...not track length.

I never realized there was so much hate for Charlie Brown Christmas Spectacular! Everyone in my family LOVES that show BoddaH1994 girlfriend isn't the only one who is bummed I guess. I remember that show being very popular in the first few years but last year it definitely did have a drop in attendance. Hopefully it comes back in future Winterfest lineups. I have many fond memories of that show.....my dad finding a new fav Xmas song (Lucy's Santa Baby), my youngest sister who watched Charlie Brown Christmas all year round finally getting to see Snoopy for the first time, and my grandma going to winterfest for the first time last year and making us criss cross the park to see that show. I will definitely miss it but it will be nice to see Tinker Toy Factory in an actual theater where you can hear better than what you can in the festhaus. Also, are the actors for Santa and Tinker the same every year for that show? My sister swears they are and I've never paid close enough attention to it to say for sure....?

The same mystical witches that came out of the swamp to roll away the witches wheel must have taken it to the same place they took the witches wheel....a place nobody can find them again

I have heard multiple people say that! So interesting....

Ok my KI favorites list - 1. Diamondback (back row) 2. Beast (row 16) 3. Orion (any row) 4. Banshee (row 1 or row 4) 5. Flight of Fear (back row) 6. Racer (non wheel seats) 7. Firehawk (back row) 8. The Bat (back row or front row) 9. Adventure Express (anywhere is fine) 10. Mystic Timbers (towards the back) 11. Vortex (I never found a seat I liked) 12. Woodstock Express (back row) 13. Invertigo (back/front row) 14. Backlot Stunt Coaster (front row) 15. Flying Ace Arial Chase (don't care) 16. Great Pumpkin Coaster (back row) I've always wondered where King Cobra would rank for me seeing as it closed the year I was born... however, I love standup coasters so I could see it being in my upper half. My favorite coasters ever out of 155 total coasters (not counting Larson Loops or Disk-O-Rides/Coasters) 1. Diamondback - in the back row 2. Millennium Force 3. Magnum XL 200 4. The Beast 5. Velocicoaster 6. Maverick 7. Hadrigs Magical Creatures 8. Space Mountain (Disney World) 9. Steel Vengeance 10. Pheonix 11. Nitro 12. The Boss 13. Riddler's Revenge 14. Shockwave (Six Flags Over TX) 15. X2 HM: Verboten Worst Coasters 5. Boomerang (Six Flags St Louis) 4. Tempesto (Busch Gardens Williamsburg) 3. Great Goofini Barnstormer (Disney World) 2. Python (Coney Island, OH) 1. Primeval Whirl (Disney World)

Thanks for the information! Great to hear first hand stories too. After watching Beverly Hills Cop III scene I know why all the double and triple wheels have been closed. That was epic! Wonder if Intamin still got all the credit or tried passing the buck to Waagner-Biro when there was a lawsuit over the dangerous malfunction of The Spider at WonderWorld?