Thrill_Biscuit

Those GAH pictures show what it might look like if a looping coaster were to .... sink? Mwahahahahaha! Seriously, though, I like the corkscrew art.

Sure, the tower is [relatively] dark, but we're just at this particular time in history. I'm sure that one day, some talented, creative people with a keen eye for aesthetics (not to mention an ear for musical ambiance), and an understanding of what makes visiting a park like Kings Island so memorable, will re-design the whole International Street experience in ways that will dazzle even beyond what was ever imagined before. It is weird to see the fountains and all the glow-in-the-dark memorabilia without the familiar tower in the picture, but SSS shows that these guys know what they're doing, and just because the tower is dark now doesn't mean it won't be brilliant sometime in the future.

It's a decent location, within walking distance of some good fast food (Skyline, Wendy's, Steak n' Shake), and even a few sit-down restaurants (Lone Star, O'Charley's, Waffle House). Lots o' traffic, though! Very busy crossroads there.

Follow up: The enormous "alien" coaster looked something like this, only more night-time-ish, with the sweeping lights slowly following the curve of the track: Can't say what kind of cars this thing had. Woke up too soon! (Wishing a flip camera really could record dreams! Oh well)

Okay. Weirdest Kings Island Dream Ever: I dreamt that I was being taken on a pre-dawn tour of the park by someone who was either Don Helbig or Jeff Probst, (or an amalgamation of them both), and there was an elevator inside the mast on the top of the Eiffel Tower, which, in true, dreamy illogic was over 3,000 feet tall! ...and I still couldn't see my house (dang it!) ...so, As I came out the top, there was a beautiful, curvy roller coaster with otherworldy supports (like something out of "Alien") silhouetted against the predawn twilight, rising a thousand feet out of the mist-enveloped treetops below. The supports featured an almost dragon-scale texture, and was lighted with slowly sweeping, ghostly-white, "Pink-Floyd-ish" robotic lights, which revealed a chrome-plated quality as the material sparkled. I reached for my trusty Flip camera (you know, because you gotta record your dreams...) Anyways... I felt a heat source so I turned around, and finally found the blinking aircraft beacon, and was amazed at how tiny it was. Suddenly, the wind picked up, and the mast started to sway violently, and the elevator, for some strange reason, had been removed for maintenance while we were up there; but the tour guide knew of a secret escape chute inside one of the leg supports of the tower, so we all jumped in and the gut-wrenching sensation of falling woke me up.

Man, I've heard of cotton candy cravings, but good grief!

We once had a cute little cardinal perched on the fence between PotatoWorks and KIMVRR, and it chirped and sang until my wife tossed it a french fry fragment, which it gladly picked up in its beak and flew off to the top of the Crypt. More cute than weird, but weird.

What if the Eiffel Tower was not at Kings Island? I'd keep looking up at nothing from points throughout the park.

Adventure Express was my first coaster ever, and I was 34. I mean, I could handle riding sideways in UH1 helicopters, climbing cliffs and mountains in Montana, and riding every kind of flat ride you could throw at me all my young life (including Tumble Bug!); but I just, for some reason, could not get myself onto even the sissiest of roller coasters. Then I married my sweet wife, who introduced me to AE, then to Top Gun (this was '03), and then to The Beast. Life has been amazing for me every summer since!

Technical difficulties? Just light the stupid fuse and run! Seriously, I love the work that the fireworks people do. They pack the shells by hand... carefully! ...and make happy faces, stars, hearts, and all kinds of eye candy that never, ever gets old!! Always world-class!

I favor order over chaos (not taking any Chances here, Terpy). Still, perhaps in hindsight, if things were really that out-of-hand, cold water cannons would have been 1. more effective and 2. more appropriate, given the palpable naïveté of the formative mass. In my opinion (as one who once studied riot control), pepper spray is better employed as an assailant countermeasure, rather than as a means of subduing an emotionally charged segment of an otherwise amenable audience. Crowd control, however, is a spontaneous, unpredictable science, especially at concerts. I'd say, "Who knows", if it weren't for the inherent irony in that statement...

Really!? As in "no more weekday fireworks?"

I've seen many attractions shut down, then re-open (and vice-versa) during a given day at Kings Island. It's nothing unusual to me.

Maybe, when no one was looking, it was only 'slightly' dismantled... ...and then reassembled... ...by the Mother Ship! (Sometimes rehash is so irresistible!) Seriously, though. I think there'd at least be some cranes or scaffolding visible if such modifications were being made.

Biscuit never saw it coming. I heard the two-note, low-order cello and bass strings, saw the ominous, dorsal fin slicing through the surface of the water. Still, I just had to ask a closed-ended question on the KIC forums... knowing full-well that Terpy was near... (cool. thanks!)

Cool. Are there lights all the way up the tower, or only the base?

I know a nice place for it:

Opening day, 2006: My first and only Zen ride on Vortex. Had the coaster all to myself! ...and I didn't even run to get there! It was the best and worst experience at the same time, for I hadn't slept much the night before, and thus the venerable looper beat the crap out of me.

edit - Post removed by me.

Here are some more 'classics' to enjoy the mist of the Royal Fountains by: edit: I almost forgot: (Ignore the dinosaur if you want to, though)...

Well, make sure to use a steel building... it's cheaper!

"I am so happy to have won this amazing contest! I am now going to install as much of the Eiffel Tower into my modest little abode!" [two weeks of various and sundary construction noises, helicopters, etc. ensue] News article in the Enquirer, two weeks later: "Residents at a Landen apartment community complained to police about a giant, flashing white light eminating from within one of the units..."

Hey, great idea, Coney! I'd love to hear upbeat orchestra on International Street. Like these: The Valdres Marsch Raiders March Ok, the Raiders one is a little "PKI", but it'd be a nice throwback to that era.

Splendid! Now if they can just get the background music right.

The Kings Island of 1972 had a particular grandeur that fit the mood and general attitude of the time. It was in a much more rural area, too (the suburban sprawl hadn't quite reached its borders yet), which gave it that feeling of being far away from the 'real' world. With relatively limited media and communication choices (the cell phone was still a year away, Nintendo was still making playing cards, and cable television was still a high-end luxury with, at best, 8 channels), visiting a well-themed amusement park still seemed a very uniquely satisfying source of entertainment. Teenagers were still quieter and more polite, too (except for the true hippies of the era, who really weren't as interested in visiting amusement parks, if you get my drift, man!)