johnjniehaus

Out of curiosity, does anyone know whatever happened to the King Cobra sign? I know the park has auctioned off a few ride signs through the years but I have always been curious about the King Cobra one. During the ACE Spring Conference we did get to do a tour of the sign shop but I must say that the areas we saw did not include many ride signs at all. The slingshot one was in there but I really don't remember seeing any other significant ones.

I was able to coordinate a long weekend trip with my new friends I made at the ACE spring conference. The one girl lives in Chicago and seeing as that is pretty centrally located i suggested that we all meet up there and she could show us around her home park. The plan of course grew to include the Wisconsin parks and Indiana Beach. So it begins - July 4: six flags great America - We were able to ride quite a bit during the holiday. Mainly stuck to coasters but it was a great day full of beautiful weather and fireworks at night. Consensus was that Goliath was the star rollercoaster in the park but our group actually ended up having an obsession with Demon too. Such an underrated arrow looper! Whizzer was fun and of course there were lots of bad jokes about how our significant others would feel about us sitting in each other's laps. American Eagle is such a great woodie and I really hope one day they can get it racing again. Gravity group maybe? Batman, Superman, & Viper were all good. I personally think X-Flight has too much of a rattle to be enjoyable but I was in the minority on that. I always end up getting a headache after that ride so to me it's not that great. GateKeeper is a superior winged coaster. I finally got my back row ride on raging bull which was ruined by the worst op I've ever experienced at an amusement park. This guy shoved the lapbars down hard and stapled my friend and I to the train. I was irritated so I said to my friend loud enough for the people around us to hear, "that was just unnecessary" my friend then made a comment to the op about how he was a little bit rough checking the restraints. My friend is the kindest guy ever so it wasn't said in an angry fashion at all. The op then replied, "do you want me to come push it down harder?". I was really ticked off so I told him to try but that he wasn't going to get it down any further. He then proceeded to come back over and saw that my friend was wearing a KI T-shirt and snarled, "oh so you're from Kings Island! Because of that I'm going to push it down extra hard" he then gave two hard thrusts against the bar which didn't go down any further. Of course one of the guys in the group who used to be a racer op yelled at him and called him a bunch of 4-letter words. Funny enough the guy working the teacups was super nice and was talking to everyone waiting in line and we mentioned how much we appreciated his effort and attitude after having a bad op on raging bull. The teacups guy then asked us, "did his name happen to be Rudy?" And we said yep that was him! He just rolled his eyes and shared our opinion that he's awful. Funny enough Rudy was working a flat ride at the end of the night so we got to experience his lovely attitude again! Needless to say I made a complaint to the park because responding in an antagonistic way to a guest is unprofessional regardless of what comment was made. He could have ignored the criticism or just apologized. Instead he made a huge scene about it and then proceeded to pick on someone based on them wearing a KI shirt. July 5: Six Flags Great America - second day at the park it was packed so we focused more on getting the remainder of the coasters (maxxforce, joker, flash, dark knight, and the two children's credits) I think that rue la dodge is the second best dogem I've ridden after the one at Knoebels. Cars are fast and hit hard! I also loved the lobster and realized how much more it spins than our Everly monster. Fiddler's Fling was a classic, got to do sky Trek tower. The only one we missed was condor as it was unfortunately closed both days of our visit. At the end of the night, we were looking in the gift shop and came across a maxxforce tshirt that had all incorrect stats. Speed was wrong, length of the track was wrong, number of inversions was wrong, etc. So hilarious I actually bought it! July 6: Little Amerricka and Mount Olympus - little Amerricka is such a strickers Grove type park. Loved the classic meteor and the chance tobbagan was super unique. I also found that I love an Allan Herschel Wild Mouse. Best flat in the park was their rollo-plane. I'd never ridden one so that was a wild experience. Of course the 30 min train ride is legendary! After a few hours there we hit mount Olympus and got all 4 major coasters and 2 go-kart tracks. I personally loved Zeus and Cyclops was also good. Pegasus had a weird rough layout that I wasn't a huge fan of. Hades 360 is a beast but it's so rough! I was near the back of the train which I've heard is worse than the front but this ride and El Toro are the only two coasters I've ever had intense back pain on and just had to ride it out and hope it would be over. Only two coasters that I've ever thought, "I hope this doesn't continue hurting me after the ride" thankfully the pain went away but it's such a tragedy that an amazing layout like that is so painful! July 7: Indiana Beach - totally walked out of my teenager years of stacking rides on top of another in a RCT park. Unfortunately Lost Coaster of Superstition Mountain was down the entire time we were there so we didn't get that credit. However, we did survive the All American Triple Loop. We had heard very bad things about how rough it was and painful and I must say that both my rides were free of headbanging and pretty smooth. I liked it a lot. I did think the loops were less forceful because of the short trains. Tig'rr is another classic Schwarzkopf and did not disappoint. Hoosier Hurricane had a few bumps but was a good out n back. Cornball Express was the best ride in the park! Wonderful CCI laterals and airtime. Of course the cyclone was fun too. Got to ride some of the flats including my first time on a yo-yo swinger and a falling star. It was great to see the Coney Island flying Bobs from when I was a kid in its new home delighting kids and adults. Overall I loved IB and love everything they are doing up there to improve the park. Sorry that was so lengthy but a lot can happen over 4 days or coaster riding and park hopping!

Got my shirt! Fun evening up there tonight. My grandma went and is still doing the flying scooter, scrambler, tornado, teddy bear, carousel, flying elephant, and train at 66. Hope I'm still having fun at that age. It's just funny that my mom and all of my aunts and uncles won't ride anything anymore but grandma is still doing it. My dad is following in his mother's footsteps and is still going strong riding but grandma is setting that bar higher each year for him

So I do enjoy an RMC but I don't think I have any in my top 10 coasters. Steel Vengeance is the best one I've ever ridden given iron gwazi was closed when I went to BGT and I have never ridden the international ones. Steel Vengeance is my #4 at CP trailing Milli, Magnum, and Maverick. I want to like it more but the excellent ride is marred by the really long line which is located in the blazing sun and then the metal detectors are super annoying. I also have extremely bad luck with waiting over and hour and then it goes down so needless to say, years of bad experiences leading up to getting on the coaster have really put a damper on my desire to ride it. It's usually a one and done for me. Good ride but I'm not going to make sure I get multiple rides in on it like I will Milli, Magnum, and Maverick. The difference between GCI and RMC to me is that RMC is smoother and while the restraints aren't the best, I find them to be more comfortable than the GCI ones. GCI restraints do not provide me with much lateral support and I don't like getting flung around like a towel on a clothesline. While RMC lap bars are kind of tight, the bars and trains provide me with a lot of support during the wild elements putting less stress on my body. I think we all have different types of rides we like and different restraints fit us better than others. My sister doesn't like the lap bars on The Racer and The Beast because they are tight on her legs while she prefers a GCI bar because it locks around the hip area and less on your legs. Some people hate arrow looper harnesses and other people like them better than a collar or vest restraint. Some people like that a Zamperla endeavor has a harness to make you feel secure while other people despise the harness and prefer and Schwarzkopf or Huss enterprise with so restraints (or maybe a small seat belt).

Hey I was out of town for the 4th but I'll be there Fri and Sat this weekend for the 4H Fair... hoping they still have some of those T-shirts

I have to admit I'm surprised we still have heard nothing. This has to be hurting the park in some fashion. Not sure if people would not go over this but it still looks incredibly bad that they kept a ride and tried to "fix" it and then it operated for less than a month and has been shut down with no updates ever since. Isn't this sort of why Kings Island got rid of SOB? They were just tired of a coaster that had issues and continuously got bad press? I hope for CP sake and for the sake of Zamperla they can get this thing running again. If it's not running by opening day next year I think it's done for.

It has been experiencing a lot of downtime this year it seems. I have a friend who frequents the park weekly and he's kept me updated on the fact that it's been down a lot. I went about 2 weeks ago and it was down. I'm not sure what is going on with it but I really hope they can figure it out and get it running again. Now is not the time to lose another rollercoaster

To be fair, I am honestly not the biggest GCI fan out there. I do enjoy them but I by far prefer a PTC or a CCI running PTC trains. PTC coasters have amazing airtime and CCI is all about the laterals for me. I don't love the bucking bronco airtime found on most GCI coasters. I don't need to be thrown to the left and right during an airtime hill. Just straight up is fine (like nearly every PTC out there). I also find GCI trains to be uncomfortable and shaky. I'm in the minority on this but my opinion that renegade was just ok probably stems from the fact that I don't love GCI to begin with and I felt like Mystic Timbers had the superior layout and runs more smoothly than renegade.

You all are exactly right concerning the fountain. I'd love to have the old one back. It was much more majestic and the new one is honestly just boring. It's supposed to be cool the way the jets turn on and off to create patterns and with the light shows at night but the jets are just way too small. The KD fountain has huge jets in the center of the fountain that gives it a much more royal feel. It's just a better visual and makes you think, "wow that's a big fountain!" There's nothing really special or majestic about the current Kings Island fountains. You just sort of walk past them without thinking much about them. On topic though, I did enjoy the fireworks show this year. I thought it had more fireworks than adventure awaits and the drone displays were pretty cool too as they highlight the rides celebrating anniversaries this year. Obviously nothing compares to the 50th anniversary show but this was a pretty good one. I do agree with others that the storyline is subpar to uninteresting but the music and show quality are very solid.

I see thanks for the update. I do wish they'd find a way to coordinate the show to allow people on the tower. I only ever got to watch the fireworks up there once but it was a very unique experience.

One other thing, when I rode the Eiffel Tower this week the operator said it was closing at 9:30 and that you can't watch the fireworks from it. Has it been like that for awhile now and I didn't realize it or is this a new policy or staffing issue? If it's that way everyday it's just sad to me whatever the reason that people cannot take part in a Kings Island tradition.

Totally agree. They need to keep it around at least until they put something in The Vortex spot. We don't need to lose another coaster without any replacement

Has anyone else noticed that Invertigo has been experiencing major amounts of downtime in the past few weeks? Anyone got any idea what's going on with it? It was stopped at the bottom of the second drop before the vertical loop a few weeks ago when I was here and my friend who frequents the park multiple nights a week has said it's been down nearly every evening and will sometimes randomly open back up near the end of the night. I've been here this evening since around 5:30 and it's been down the entire time.

The wooden coasters at Coney were under water plenty of times and came back so I think the coasters at valleyfair are probably going to be ok. It's just wild to me that I was there on June 19 and nothing was flooded to now according to my friend who lives up there even the parking lot has flooded to the point that people have had to park elsewhere and get bussed in.

I'm just excited to see an investment! I was worried we'd see a nothing year after getting adventure port and camp Snoopy. I really hope we see a new coaster in 2026 and then get the nothing year. Not that I ever want a nothing year but I'd rather get one after a big coaster addition if we get one

Milli is the better coaster and at least nobody has to argue IF it's a giga coaster or not. I personally have tried to figure out the criteria because if it's lift hill based for giga and hyper, Orion is definitely a hyper but that would mean phantom's revenge is not a hyper. That doesn't seem right to me so if I go on size of drop, meaning phantom is a hyper and Orion is a giga, that means the original hyper coaster Magnum XL 200 isn't a hyper (drop is only 195'). This also seems wrong so for my personal criteria I classify any coaster with a lift hill or a drop of 200' as a hyper and any coaster with a lift hill or drop of 300' as a hyper. So yes, according to me Orion is a giga. I think Milli has a greater sense of speed from the low to the ground elements, tunnels, and lack of trim breaks. Orion has the better first drop but it suffers from some elements that are subpar to me. The wave turn at the top of the second hill doesn't do much and the orion's belt helix is forceful yet boring. Orion doesn't deserve all the hate it gets but it's definitely not the top giga coaster. My giga rankings are as follows - 1. Intimidator 305, 2. Millennium Force, 3. Fury 325, 4. Orion, 5. Leviathan. Maybe one day I'll win the lottery and go to Japan to get steel dragon 2000

Out of curiosity, are we still thinking The Bat is next to go? I'm personally leaning towards Invertigo, Congo Falls, and Timberwolf as the next removals. While The Bat is old, Invertigo is also a rare model these days and one could argue for a new front of the park coaster. Of course I wouldn't be crying if they announced Boo Blaster was closing at the end of the 2024 season but I don't see that happening.

The rumors thread is now locked so I'm going with this is the thread we're supposed to be using for discussion? If not someone please direct to the proper place. Anyway, I think a Soak City addition isn't surprising considering its been nearly 10 years since tropical plunge. I am not a water park goer so SC additions never do much if anything for me but it's still good to see the park investing in an area they haven't touched for close to a decade. J think this project looks like something water park goers would really enjoy and I hope it brings a lot of people into the park in 2025.

June 18-21 I spent in Minneapolis with a friend I made at the ACE Spring Conference at KI this spring. He lives up there and wanted to show me his home park Nick U and Valleyfair which is nearby. Due to my flight being cancelled and rescheduled for a day later, I got to also go to Adventureland in Des Moines. Nick U: for an indoor park this one really delivered! Good collection of flats and the coasters weren't bad for being cramped into the mall. SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge was a decent euro fighter but it seemed a bit shaky to me. I really enjoyed the length of the Pepsi Orange Streak and the views it provided. The fairly Odd coaster was probably my favorite as it ran smoothly and gave us some really good spins! Avatar the last Airbender was a cool concept but the spinning mechanism wasn't working 100%. We also managed to snag the kiddy coaster credit. There was a new op who struggled to stop the ride so we went around plenty of extra times. The star attraction is by far the log chute which is my second favorite log ride after the original splash mountain at Disneyworld. Valleyfair: Comparable to Dorney Park but slightly worse. Still a fun afternoon of coasters and flats. Started the day with Mad Mouse which was my first arrow mouse. Was definitely a bit more aggressive and rough than I was expecting but I did enjoy it's wonky transitions. Next was Renegade which honestly was just ok. It seemed rougher than Mystic Timbers and didn't have quite as good airtime. Did manage to get a front row ride though which was pretty cool. We then took a pit stop at wheel of fortune which was my first time being on a chance trabaunt since I was a kid at Coney Island. All parks should have a trabaunt! I loved that ride as a kid and this brought back so many memories. I love the way they run forward and backwards and waltz around their concrete pads. The next coaster was Wild Thing which was slightly less inspiring than Steel Force at Dorney Park but it's still a great ride and a fun hyper. The mid course was hitting a bit hard so if you were in the front of the train you didn't get any airtime on the final bunny hills. However, in the back there was some nice smooth floater. Definitely my number one coaster in the park. It was at that moment we noticed Excalibur testing so we made the second train of the day. Such a short ride but boy is it action packed! Got front row and back row rides and it's my solid #2 in the park. There's really no other coaster quite like it with its speedy low to the ground turns and crazy airtime hill mid ride. It wasn't particularly smooth but also never painful. While in the back of the park, we rode thunder canyon which was a cool refreshing journey though the forest. I managed to miss all th waterfalls...others were not so fortunate. High Roller was up next and it was very underwhelming. Probably the biggest disappointment of my trip due to the excessive trimming which took away any chance for airtime and made the coaster feel like it would valley at any moment. I'd like to see a gravity group refurb and the removal of some of those trims. Corkscrew was the coaster I most feared at the park but it was amazingly smooth during my ride. Very enjoyable classic arrow. A surprise ride at the park was Cosmic Coaster which was pretty fun considering its size and speed. Nice little helix layout. Those trains are dynamite though! We rode the flying eagles which were nothing special, supercat which looked old as dirt but delivered an enjoyable ride, and the monster which definitely runs faster than ours and provided us with much more spinning action. Final coaster was Steel Venom. The holding break is very jarring but I'm glad VF keeps it operational. Intense coaster with a unique element! Adventureland: After a 3 hour drive, we arrived at Adventureland and immediately hit up the Underground. Such a unique indoor coaster/dark ride. It reminded me of a better version of black diamond at Knoebels. Next was monster which is by far the best euro fighter I've ridden. Such great speed and hang time! The Pheonix was a good spinning coaster but while I was in line I got super hot and sick so I got to take a trip to first aid for most of the afternoon. The first aid staff was very kind and helpful. Turned out my blood sugar was off which had made me feel nauseous and weak. After lunch, we rode outlaw run which was running very smoothly for a CCI. Also got on the tornado which was a wonderful out-n-back woodie. I insisted on riding the teacups before leaving seeing as the PTC crazy daisy rides are a rarity these days. I thought the one at Knoebels spins slightly faster but the Adventureland one was quite enjoyable. The train ride was a fun way to end the day before the return drive to Minneapolis.

You know they will absolutely. Even if they got all the money there was no guarantee they would save moonlight gardens. It's like when Hamilton County Parks had a tax on the ballot a few years back, one of the things they said they would do was to restore the Okeana shaker village at Miami Whitewater. After a lot of locals voted for the tax for that sole reason. Years went by and nothing happened. My boss who is also a local township trustee finally got in contact with someone at the park to find out why nothing has been done about the shaker village and he was told that it hadn't fit in the budget. If it wasn't for the volunteer group Friends of the Shakers the entire thing would be grown over with weeds and some of the buildings would probably have collapsed already. Just goes to show you that you can't trust people to spend money on what they "promise" they will spend it on. I'd love to be proven wrong and see moonlight gardens return to hosting events. Heck, I'd buy a ticket to opening night but in reality I don't expect much from them other than to quietly demolish it in the coming years.

I was just at adventure land in Des Moines and they had barbed wire on the top of their fences. One warning sign about entering the restricted area and a separate warning sign about the barbed wire...

I just saw that the Rick Bastrup book is for sale at the collections gift shop near the main entrance. Might be adding it to my collection shortly

https://local12.com/news/local/we-hit-something-kings-island-employee-talks-about-roller-coaster-hitting-guest-rollercoaster-ride-mason-warren-county-amusement-park-accident-wreck-restricted-area-injured-hospitalized-speed-Banshee-diamonback-the-beast-cedar-point-coaster-investigation Prayers go out to the front row passengers who sustained injuries during the incident. Thankfully it doesn't sound like any life altering injuries among the passengers but I'm sure there's also some emotional trauma attached to knowing what happened.

https://fox5sandiego.com/news/man-critically-injured-at-ohio-amusement-park-was-struck-by-roller-coaster-officials-believe/ Some witnesses quoted in this article...

I do not envy first responders at all. I could never do what they do every day. A big thank you from me to anyone who is a first responder or takes care of trauma victims. You are making a difference in the world and dealing with situations I'd never be able to fathom