RingMaster

While obstructing views of The Great Pumpkin Coaster on that side of the area? Doubt it, though it would be neat to see giant comic strips peppered throughout PS like Universal has with Toon Lagoon at Islands.

Dumb question, but does anyone have pictures of said arch(es)?

Package holders were finally let in to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on Friday morning and, as expected, a TON of photos and videos have been posted on Flickr and YouTube (no shots of Forbidden Journey, though) courtesy of Inside The Magic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/insidethemagic/sets/72157624154932930/ http://www.youtube.com/user/InsideTheMagic

From what I understand, Rides is one of the few departments where you have to be 16 to start; almost everything else you can be 15 to start working at the park.

In my opinion, before Diamondback snaked its way in, Flight Deck and Flight of Fear were the two smoothest steel coasters at the park (again, in my opinion). But I think that, considering a vast majority of guests know that coaster is "the one that has the spaceship you go inside" or "the one that's completely indoors and is pitch-black" (not to mention people constantly say it goes from 0-100 mph in two seconds), FOF isn't really all that underrated. I would say either Adventure Express or Backlot Stunt Coaster is underrated because they're considered family coasters and don't provide that much of a thrill to regular thrill seekers. On the contrary. Even though the top speed is roughly 40 mph for both attractions, they sure make you feel as if you're traveling a heck of a lot faster. Not to mention the special effects (what's left of them, anyway ) on Backlot make it a one-of-a-kind attraction worth riding more than once. But in terms of an overrated attraction...Great Pumpkin Coaster. C'mon people, the first drop is not THAT big. Geez.

Dibs on Great America's Firefall as a replacement for our Crypt.

Last year there were four reports of tornado touchdowns with a 15 to 20-mile radius of the park on a Saturday evening (around 8 or 9ish). Several Park Services employees and I were huddled together in the location where we go to punch in/out for work (mentioning specifics on where it's at would be giving away confidential information) watching it pour down. As it grew worse and worse, the call went out for everyone in the department to meet back at that locale and wait for further instruction. That's when (I believe) the sirens went off and our main supervisor came in and slammed the open door to the outside after ushering close to 200 regular guests inside. Now, from what I remember, Park Services sups (blue shirts) don't carry umbrellas as they just have their rain jackets on like any normal associate (why other blues simply use umbrellas to further distance themselves from lower-ranked associates during a rainstorm is beyond me). Anyway, I'll never forget having a little kid lost amongst all the ruckus, crying because he couldn't find their parents, and soaked from the onslaught of rain. Several of us tried to calm him down as I gave him my 'street' jacket to dry himself off with. Thankfully, his parents were in the building with the rest of us and another associate walked the child over to them; I think we all would have been about as upset as he was if his parents were in another shelter. I was in there for about the rest of the night, so I can't confirm that EVERY blue shirt or full-time employee was out in the rain getting guests to safety, but I do know that because our blues did I would imagine there were a lot of others doing the same thing. It sounds as if no incident similar to this occurred, or has occurred yet, during any of the big storms that have hit in recent weeks (to where people were being herded into shelter). Maybe it had in small increments but was pushed aside or not big enough to be mentioned. But if the case of no one being sent to shelter (and, by the way, people automatically seek shelter in any from of rainstorm, be it underneath a simple patio umbrella or the Festhaus) or management not scrambling to help the guests do said item (or rather, simply closing early and, from what Terpy said, not properly or poorly announcing it), then my respect for the park's management has dropped even further.

Well, during the Paramount reign, they would show a few rides not from Kings Island (most notably, Afterburn at Carowinds) during their commercials, and the 'Best of Hollywood Entertainment...Now Playing' slogan was used for all of their parks and marketed almost exactly the same. So I guess what I'm saying is that if you're under a chain, you're pretty much going to be marketed almost the exact same way as your sister park on the other side of the country (or on the opposite end of the sate), even if several parks are completely different when it comes to its layout and offering of rides. Heck, even the Busch Gardens parks are mashed together in their national commercials.* But I will agree on them using their 'Fun and Only' slogan for all of their parks. That slogan is meant for only a single park simply because the word 'Only' is used. The fact that another park has the exact same slogan (or, for that matter, every park in the chain) negates the exclusivity that one park had using that particular slogan and makes it sound as if they are owned by some big corporation that doesn't know how to market individual parks in their chain and assume that grouping them together and slapping any slogan on them will work, when, in reality, will just confuse those who go park hopping yet aren't enthusiasts. *This also goes for Cedar Fair's Halloween events; each of their events save for one is named Halloween Haunt. Including those that weren't originally named or marketed with the others (most specifically, ValleySCARE at Valleyfair and Scarowinds at Carowinds). Also, each and every one of the Haunts save for one is marketed the exact same way "with more blood, terror, and gore than ever before" (Cedar Point has "more madness, terror, and mayhem than ever before" in theirs instead, which goes along with the idea that HalloWeekends is a dumbed-down event compared to KBF's Haunt).

Very few people have ridden the Forbidden Journey. From what I understand, the five actors that were there and a couple or so dozen Team Members have actually rode it. They're trying to keep it top secret from dang near everyone, so I don't know how they're going to be able to hide spoilers about the ride from people once AP packages start next week (or, for that matter, whenever softs start which may start tomorrow). On the vehicles, they showed a very brief three seconds of both the vehicle and the 'Magic Carpet' loading floor (think a giant treadmill) and they have done a tremendous job of hiding the massive, and I mean, MASSIVE robotic arm that's connected to the car (themed to enchanted benches). They can reach heights of up to 25 feet and I believe they move horizontally about as fast as Spider-Man (which, if you've ever ridden it, it can move pretty quickly). And as for the ride itself, it's a hodgepodge of the books/films leading up to Order of the Phoenix. Confirmed encounters include: the Whomping Willow (Rupert Grint was quoted as saying it was a giant AA prop and was originally rumored to have moving KUKA arms as a few large branches swatting at guests but was merely a blue sky idea) Acromantulas (giant spiders in the Potterverse) and especially Aragog (Hagrid's pet spider of whom he had to let loose into the Forbidden Forest) Quidditch (the main storyline involves watching a game of Quidditch and supposedly begins and ends with it) the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk (a giant snake capable of turning enemies into stone) Dementors (the hooded black figures from Prisoner of Azkaban and OotP that steal souls)

I see Caro-Timmy taking number three, and it will be very close between 305 and FJ. From a thrill ride aspect, you can't beat 305 with the speed and intensity and it being the love child of both Millie and Ricky. But from the overall experience of the ride, from the queue to the ride itself, Forbidden Journey is set to trump its "father" that is Spider-Man. It will be a VERY close call.

Off-topic yet kinda-sorta-maybe-on-topic with coasters... Considering two Cedar Fair rides (Prowler and D-Back) were #1 and #2 on the Best New Ride list of '09, does anyone think both Timmys will get #1 and #2 for 2010? Or will The Forbidden Journey of Harry Potter take the top spot and the Timmys get #2 and #3? I know people will get on me because a 300-foot tall coaster (that may, in theory, be better than Millennium Force, but don't tell giga that) would be beat out by a dark ride starring a young wizard. Yet from what I have heard about FJ, I think it may just deserve the top spot just for what it does/can do. K, off-topic rant over.

At Cedar Point, yes. But at the other parks that aren't Cedar Point (or for that matter, the former Paramount Parks)....we shall see.

Unless, of course, if you're an employee and you say that about the park that's really the only time the GM will personally deal with the issue...

From what was proposed in another thread, it may have been the individual park's decision to remove the theming and not the company itself. If it was the company's decision, then KD's Firefall would more resemble what Great America's Firefall looks like now:

I haven't been in the 'Bay (as a guest) since the remodel in 2004, and that was on a really slow day where I got on every slide in an hour because it was 65 outside and it was threatening to rain.

If I'm not mistaken, there was a rumor a year or two ago that the proposed 2009 coaster for Great America had been scrapped and Cedar Point picked up the plans to see if it would fit somewhere - namely where Demon Drop once stood. It was just a rumor, but if the idea of the new ride at the Point is a coaster (and, for that matter, a GCI), then perhaps they're putting Great America's proposed coaster to good use.

Yeah, you're about three years too late to the party, dude.

I thought they couldn't wear mirrored sunglasses at work...

Boo, Park Services all the way. They know how to get down and dirty and work as a team. [/shameless promotion ]

Riding Son of Beast when the fireworks were going off back when the loop was still there. The finale of the ride timed up almost perfectly with the fireworks finale and made that one of the best ways to end the night at the park.

If the rumors that the CW is getting an Inverted Beemer to replace their Arrow Suspender are true for 2011, then perhaps we may get an Invert similar to the CW's for 2012 to replace our Suspender.

The darkride/coaster you're referring to, Journey to Atlantis, was actually a Mack Rides production: http://rcdb.com/1904.htm But yeah, JTA was amazing and I wish that Kings Island had a ride like that. Actually, I wish KI had rides like: Curse of DarKastle - I wanted Tomb Raider: The Ride to be this considering the original press release made it sound almost exactly like what Spiderman's technology used (rocketing upwards to one thing and then plummeting towards another) Splash Mountain/Ripsaw Falls - One of the many ideas in my head was Nicktoons Falls which had two drops, the original and a newer 60-foot drop, and a Nickelodeon-themed Mt. Rushmore (Mt. Gakmore) with four major Nick character heads on it (Tommy, SpongeBob, Jimmy Neutron, and Cosmo & Wanda) Nemesis - A smaller Beemer invert that relies more on scenery and ingenuity/creativity than size and height Men In Black: Alien Attack - Another idea in my head was to have a zombie-themed shoot-em-up dark ride for grown-ups but with a 50s-styled take on it named Zompocalypse JAWS - Yet ANOTHER idea involving, not a giant shark, but a trek into the depths of a Louisiana swamp with giant crocodiles, deadly snakes, and crazy voodoo witch doctors called Black Bayou

You bring up an excellent point and I agree with you; I see Iron Dragon being the last of Suspended Arrows in CF's lineup. Why? Because it's at their flagship park which has the second largest batch of coasters in the world, second only to Magic Mountain. In fact, I see not one, but two coasters being erected at the Point before Iron Dragon is finally removed (the second coaster would essentially be ID's replacement). If the rumors are true that The Vortex at Wonderland is on its way out, that gives a bunch of parts for Iron Dragon to last, maybe, two to three years or maybe more if Flight Deck is removed as well, of which I'm just pulling a guesstimation (starting in 2011). Which, in that time frame, lets Cedar Point add one new coaster (in 2012) and, once either the extra parts for Iron Dragon run out or the second coaster is installed (in, like, 2015 or 2016), that's when the Dragon flies for the last time. I'm hoping that Kings Island and Canada's Wonderland get something good to replace the two Suspenders (Wonderland may get something big in 2011, while we get something big for 2012). But, this is all mere speculation.

^ No, that's what Diamondback is 'cause it has the splashdown element on it. Spiegel said it so it must be true... EDIT: Dangit, Terpy beat me to it.

Just because there's trash cans every five feet doesn't mean people will use them or it will automatically make it that much cleaner. You need a top of the line Ecology/Park Services crew to make the park sparkle and shine every day the park is open...something Kings Island specializes in and something Cedar Point lacks. I can't tell you how many times I've gone up to the Point and seen very few, if any, yellow shirts on the midways or in the bathrooms cleaning (and the yellow shirts/metal pans are supposed to make those associates stand out more than usual; it's kinda contradictory to not find any). You would think that, given the fact that it's the flagship park and their base of operations is in Sandusky, they would run a tighter ship in terms of cleanliness.