johnjniehaus

Well said!

You're cracking me up! Y'all know what I'm referencing. BBW in rollercoaster lingo is Big Bad Wolf just like "riding a woodie" is not what comes to mind for some people. Haha

I was just there yesterday and saw the new footers in the drachen fire area. There's definitely some kind of rollercoaster going in back there. It would pain me to see a cheap rip off of big bad wolf as an arrow suspended coaster that utilized the terrain is worlds better than some family b&m invert that runs across a grassy field. I wish someone would bring back the arrow suspended model with the swinging gondola cars but alas we will probably never see anything like that again. I'm just curious if this new coaster is going to be marketed as BBW 2.0 and while the GP and younger guests who never rode the original might not care, I don't think anyone is replacing BBW in the hearts and minds of it's huge fanbase including many middle age and older guests.

Yes that one is my personal favorite and I will definitely try to make a trip to ride it if they ever announce it's closure. If it lasts till 2028 I'm going to make a motion for it to become an ACE Landmark for holding the record of highest G-force in the USA for 50 years.

Enthusiasts are a very rough crowd but I had GP friends threatening to back out of going to CP when they knew it was down. I was told why would we go when the best ride isn't open? I had to convince them that the park was still good enough to justify a 4hr one way drive. My GP Kings Island crowd friends basically weren't going to give the park their business over the entire thing. I convinced them to give the park a chance and I (the enthusiast) happened to make CP $120 in tickets sales that day. I have many family members and friends saying things to me about what a disappointment it is or how it looks really bad on Cedar Point to have additional issues with a ride that already had an major accident. I've got GP people telling me "TT2 is like Son of Beast". It hasn't gone unnoticed by the general public it's just that enthusiasts are the loudest critics and have the platform to voice their opinions. The GP is probably just as upset and in the case of my family and friends who aren't enthusiasts none of them went to CP this year except the couple of guys I work with that I convinced to give the park a shot despite the fact TT2 was closed.

Sad this is going but it was running pretty janky for a Schwarzkopf when I rode it two years ago. The only way a park is going to keep a Schwarzkopf these days is if it's a beloved classic/historically significant or if the park doesn't have a lot of investment put into it. For example, revolution at magic mountain isn't going anywhere anytime soon because it's a classic. I'd guess frontier city is also going to hang silver bullet as long as possible. A park like BGT doesn't have one that is an ACE coaster landmark or as iconic as something like super-duper-looper but they do invest in BGT quite often so it makes sense it's being retired for a modern replacement

Can't lie I'm not surprised. I'm hoping for next spring but at this point I think I'm done getting my hopes up. I'm viewing this project as a disaster until I see at least 3 months of steady, reliable operations out of TT2

I'm not an economist but I'd say based on my limited knowledge this is a true statement. I think there's a limit to what people can/will pay for an amusement park during a time of inflation. If they raised the rates to $200 for a gold pass would they still have the same amount of people buying them? Maybe if they had done it over the course of the past 10 years people wouldn't have noticed as much? However you never know because people were standing in soup lines during the great depression but somehow found enough money to go to the movie theater and to keep the amusement parks afloat... people have money for what they want to have money for

I personally understand why places go cashless but I think it is inconvenient for some older people and some younger people. Gone are the days your parents can give you a $20 bill and say here's your lunch money for KI. Now you'd have to transfer it onto a cash to card thing which is just something else you have to do. I'd rather just hand an employee a $20 bill. I think places view not having any cash as more secure and less of a liability because nobody can physically rob a place with no cash. However, there are still people who prefer to use cash and I think they should still have the option. My grandparents still carry a ton of cash. They pay for groceries with cash and always pay cash at restaurants. They write checks to pay all of their bills. The only thing they use a credit card for is gas and online purchases. Then when the credit card bill comes they mail them a check...no online payments. They would definitely be in the group complaining about the heritage bank center not taking cash anymore. As for the conspiracy theories about the government tracking you, I agree that the government already knows everywhere you go and everything you say if you have a cell phone. I'm sure they can access your banking information if they wanted to. They can freeze your bank account if you are a criminal they wish to apprehend. The main reason I think some people don't want to go to a cashless society is that the government would be privy to all the money someone receives. There would be no more "payments under the table" that the government doesn't get to tax unless someone is kind enough to report the income when they file their taxes. If you did away with cash, you can't pay anyone without the government knowing about it. Not to get political but regardless of which party is in control of the government, my requests are still the same - please make gas affordable so I can go on more coaster trips and please don't raise my taxes.

Looks like a fun event! Unfortunately our Octoberfest section is nothing more than the festhaus and Viking Fury. I love adventure port but it came at the cost of reducing Octoberfest to merely a spur off of International Street. I'd get behind an Octoberfest event at KI but I'm not sure how to gauge how many people it would actually draw to the park...

This is very unfortunate and I do agree that this guy is totally in the wrong here. An 8 year old is not going to be able to properly look after two younger siblings and if there was some sort of child predator in the park an 8 year old is not equipped to handle that sort of situation. The proper thing to do is either bring another adult to watch younger kids or if push comes to shove you all wait in the line together and when you get up to the gate you let the 9y.o. ride alone and you and the other children either cross over or go back through the que and meet her at the exit. I think CP does check height at the entrance to certain rides but I've seen my grandma take my younger cousins in line for plenty of rides at Kings Island and explain to the operator they were just going to walk across to the exit. Ops never seemed to have an issue with it and when me and my older cousins would get off the ride she'd be right by the exit waiting.

After digging around, I can't seem to find out what type of malfunction the swings had or what type of injuries were sustained but hopefully the injured parties make a speedy recovery as it did not sound as if anyone was in a critical or life threatening condition. On a side note: maybe they should squash the swings instead of the spider to make space for their new flat ride!

Man milli being down all day sucks!!! That's happened to me before too... Glad you got to get back up there though. Maverick and steel Vengeance are both elite coasters. Definitely top 10 worthy!

Wow! I had no idea that wonderland had fallen behind CP and KI... hopefully that means they will increase our budget even more and give us that Vortex replacement! Just kidding of course we already have a pretty good budget and I hope they continue investing in wonderland as well. I really loved that park the one time I was fortunate enough to visit in 2023. Definitely want to try to get up there next year!

I saw the same video. I have a friend who's home park is great America and she was really hoping it wasn't a dive but after the announcement she has definitely got more enthusiastic because of the fact there's no mid course and that it's an original layout. She was really afraid they were going to get yet another cloned layout. Also, you should seriously visit SFGA. I really love that park. They have some good coasters and whole nothing there is elite to me, that doesn't mean they don't have a diverse lineup that is really fun. They also have some really good flat rides that you shouldn't miss! Fiddler's Fling is one of the wildest spinning flats I've ever been on and their "monster" is a Schwarzkopf model called the lobster and it spins like crazy! It's been closed most of this season but they also have a very rare HUSS Condor!

Oh for sure! Zamperla is still a good manufacturer and their flats are pretty reliable. I loved the wild mouse at CP. I think we will see CF now Six Flags continue to work with them

While I'm actually very excited to ride Wrath of Rakshasa next year, I hope we do not get a clone of a coaster that is 5 hours away. I do think it's very possible we get a dive coaster because they seem to be a hot market item right now but I'm hoping for something else for the sake of coaster diversity and just having a new ride that is going to be special. The plot of land we're talking about was home to the original arrow suspended coaster and then to a record breaking arrow looper which became an iconic ride at the park. We need something else that is just totally different from what anyone else within a 5 hour drive already has. My #1 pick is of course an extreme spinner like time traveler at SDC but I also think there's a possibility that our next coaster comes from Vekoma. If the park is happy with the job they did with SSBR, they might very well sign on for a vekoma thrill coaster. I'd love to see a next gen Vekoma coaster in The Vortex plot...it would be a pipe dream but a Vekoma launched flying coaster like F.L.Y. at Phantasialand be mind-blowing!!!

Not sure about going with Zamperla for a large scale launch coaster considering all the issues they have been experiencing with TT2 at CP. I think someone has to give Zamperla a second chance when they work out the kinks but until they do, I wouldn't be interested in purchasing this particular model from them. However, a multi launch similar to Maverick would be amazing. I'd also love one similar to copperhead strike at Carowinds. Or just make my day and give me an extreme spinner with two launches!

I just renewed my pass with the all park passport. A friend had bought the drink plan for me this year for my birthday so I renewed that as well. I finally caved in and bought the meal plan too. I've invested about $400 into my pass and add ons for next year and this is what I'm getting - Free parking at all CF and SF properties* Free admission to all CF and SF properties* Free drinks at legacy CF parks Free meals at legacy CF parks No meals or food included at SF parks. *Knott's and Wonderland might have some exclusions... will have to check to be sure

I think they have had a better track record in more recent years. I know pantheon and velocicoaster are very popular

Now I'm curious... what do you think is better about the minis vs the full scale?

Glad you like it! It's definitely different than anything else in the park which means it'll stand out (which is a good thing). Just based on all the teaser and promo material I never thought I was going to wake up to an announcement of a blue rollercoaster.

So first of all I love the name! Wrath of Rakshasa is unique and grabs my attention. Second, I know some fans of Great America who really wanted a dive so I'm sure they are super stoked! I also know some Great America fans who did not want a dive but I think they might be willing to come around based on the fact they did not get a dr diabolical clone but rather got a unique layout that actually does break 2 dive coaster records. Great America already has so many cloned coasters that it's really good to see them get another original layout. So I thought for sure they would take out the go karts at the end of the season to make more space for the new coaster but according to the video it doesn't appear the layout goes into that area at all which is very impressive that they fit a mini dive into a spot formerly occupied by a water ride and a haunt attraction. I noticed as I'm sure others have there's no mid course during the layout which leads me to believe those final elements are going to slap! I think this coaster should be high capacity which is what Great America needs seeing as their most recent coasters (Maxxforce and Joker) are both abysmal in terms of capacity. I'm a coaster enthusiast so I have to critique something and that minor thing is the paint color scheme. Not sure what I was expecting but yellow and blue is not what I imagined a coaster themed to the wrath of a demonic creature to be... I understand you can't just reuse demon's colors but blue is not "scary" or "dark" or "foreboding" as a color and the yellow is meh. Still going to be a great ride but the color scheme almost looks "happy" instead of "wrathful". Can't wait to get on this! Also Six Flags, please please please please have this ready by memorial Day day at the lastest... opening day is preferred. Please do not open another new ride in the middle of July or even worse delay it until 2026.

I'm just shocked that only one person has approached me to even start a conversation about River Racers and that individual heard something about it on the radio of all places. I agree that a new coaster generates a lot of conversation but I'm telling you people were excited about the antique Cars. Everyone was talking about that when it was announced. I'm hoping that maybe more people start coming up to me about river racers in the coming weeks because I like to see people getting excited about that park but so far I have yet to see the enthusiasm from the GP people I personally know (not that they are a reflection of the GP as a whole)

I do think that some guests might get disgruntled or choose not to renew passes but it's probably not enough to negatively affect the park. I don't think anyone should be told they have to be happy about some of the ways the park has cut corners in recent years such as less staff on the rides (I'm looking at you monster and at you dogem!) and reduced operating hours/days but despite some things I think the park could do better (have ice in the drink machine), Kings Island is still holding an above average standard in the amusement park industry. I understand the age old argument of "you could have Michigan's Adventure as your home park" but if I did, I think I'd just drive 4hrs to Cedar Point. Eventually long periods of not investing in a park or subpar investments results in some people just taking their business elsewhere. If Kings Island became Six Flags America bad in terms of ops, food, and investments, I could see myself looking into going to other parks in the area instead. However, KI is nowhere near that point for me. I renewed my pass the other day, added on the all park passport, and got both the drink & meal plans. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy the end of this season and I look forward to making new memories next year too!