RingMaster

....in the years leading up to Nickelodeon completely taking over Kiddie-Land, Hanna-Barbera Land was always packed on any given day. It was a chore trying to walk around with all the strollers roaring through (probably because of the small size of the paths). What in the WORLD makes you think they're gonna stop coming because SpongeBob and the Fairly OddParents aren't there in 2010? Nickelodeon or not, the installation of an inverted coaster made for kids (along with a mini Drop Tower and a weird ginormous skating ride) further cements the belief that if you build something made for the kids, the kids will ride it without a doubt, cartoon endorsements notwithstanding.

Yeah, the lifeguards at the Bay have a knack for being less than homely, whether it be towards a guest or an employee from a different department. I know that their job is guarding the lives of those in the water park, but their attitude from it reminds me exactly of the typical high school prep - stuck-up and self-indulgent. In the six years that the water park has been redesigned as Boomerang Bay, I have been over there as a guest maybe about ONCE.

Yeah, you're right, the Morgan system does have a higher capacity than Sally because it's constantly moving. My bad. I just hope they'll redo the actual interactive portion of the ride; it's either the Fright Lights are broken and/or don't register hits from far away, or some of the targets and scenes are placed too far away from the car. I hate having to reach out of the car just to shoot a target that's only three feet in front of me, let alone attempt to shoot one 20 feet away.

That's what I'm hoping they'll transform it to, just Ghost Blasters. Maybe it'll get a vehicle overhaul like Kings Dominion's with the four-seater cars and we can have separated rooms with doors the cars go through. EDIT: If they can make the ride like this at Elitch Gardens: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRmbOVhnl0Q I will be ecstatic.

^ I'd assume that would be the new sign considering the Nick Universe sign and logo are one and the same...except the sign doesn't have the actual Nick characters on it. As for re-theming the area...basically, I wouldn't expect too much from it, aside from all the Nick stuff being removed and new signs for the rides. Other than that, I doubt there will be as much of a difference aesthetically as compared to the change from HB Land to Nick U in '06.

That is the biggest reason why I don't like where they place some of their attractions is because of X-Base. The addition of Firehawk made that alleyway ten times MORE crowded than previous Haunts, and the fact that they switched the entrance/exit of Death Row and put the queue line next to the shed (as opposed to its old spot where the former IJ souvenir shop now sits) gives people even LESS room to walk around. And now with Slaughterhouse in Action Zone that's more Guest Flow complications as there's only one way in/out of the Zone.....technically two, but if, for some odd reason, they decide to block the winding road that goes in between Stunt Crew and the restrooms (say if it's for the queue line), then that's X-Base all over again. Why they didn't put it over in Nick Theater (aside from the theme being a super gory butcher shop, real family-friendly stuff there) and draw the crowds away from Coney and into Kiddieland is beyond me.

That must mean Massacre Manor's queue line will have to utilize Skyline Patio or go all the way around Scrambler and Skyline's building and enter right next to Dodgems. Although I'd be willing to bet Zephyr won't stay open that long on Saturday nights if Death Row's maze keeps blocking its entrance and exit like in previous years...

We already have love going on within the confines of the castle; let's not change the surroundings encouraging them that it's the right thing to do in a darkride...

Actually, Nick is not involved in Howl-o-Fest anymore; after all, why do you think it's no longer called Nick-or-Treat? EDIT: Oh, and could they please revert Trail of Terror's name back to the Psycho Path? It makes it sound less corny and more mysterious; when one of my friends hears Trail of Terror, they go, "Dude, isn't that Jack's cousin's backyard kiddie haunt?"

Yeah, their Photoshopping skills leave a lot to be desired, as even the whole map itself is seemingly blurry and pixelated, something that automatically makes a viewer suspect it was done by an amateur/rookie. I noticed on the regular park maps that the Diamondback logo is very pixelated and doesn't look all that good as compared to, say, the wallpaper version of the logo.

On the attractions page (Drive-In screen), you'll see a small map icon at the bottom of the car wreck mountain, which goes to a PDF of this year's Haunt map.

Which means that if, in fact, Cut-Throat is going in Bubba Gump's patio (shows it on the map), it's technically an outdoor maze seeing as how it's not a full roof that encompasses the patio area; it's one of those weird hanging garden-type deals. I also like how Diamondback isn't on the map at all, just the logo on top of where Swan Lake used to be.

At least we finally see the return of live music to the event; I miss the Hauncert Series from 2006. In fact, I miss a lot of things from 2006.... EDIT: Pirates is an outdoor maze?

Well, they already bought Marvel....

They will at least wait, until their season pass sale for next year is over? That means they'll hold out on the announcement until the end of September and by then the screenshot will have already been filtered through the entire Internets, and possibly the newscasts (shudder) will pick up on it before the park has chance to officially announce it.

That would be gross and funny at the same time! haha Would you imagine someone's already thought of this and built a park with said idea in mind? Three words. Bon. Bon. Land. EDIT: And 900 posts! Suhweetness!

I'd have rather seen both coasters get different themes rather than have the exact same one (of course, this is the same company that has all their Halloween events marked with the same name), but as of right now, I like 305's layout with the low-to-the-ground turns and quick bunny hops.

I'm holding for it being a maze. So allegedly, with us being told back at the beginning of the year that Red Beard's being moved to the worksite's spot, it's possible it could go in the Skyline Patio. With cornSTALKERS along the Timberwolf path, this would alleviate any problems of Guest Flow, as people now have access to the Floral Clock paths as shortcuts rather than having to go all the way up Coney Mall or Rivertown/Nick U just to get to attractions at the back of the park (Urgent Scare, Vortex, Beast, etc.).

They're probably re-coding the Haunt site in the style of everyone else in the chain. Along with their new tagline ("All You Fear Is Here"), which I thought was ours and ours only. EDIT: Can we pwease move Cheerfest to October on a Haunt night so we can scare us up some cheerleaders like Kings Dominion does? PWEASE?

Dan managed to capture this from the official Kings Island website on the 28th.

I find it to be a bit saddening to find that, while the country is in a recession and Kings Island has been cutting back on hours from several departments (notably Security), they have somehow found the need to buy flat-screen LCD TVs for use as virtual menu boards for their restaurants. It would be a different story if the other rides replaced the old QTV monitors with new LCD screens like the ones on Diamondback (Beast and FOF particularly). But with the high prices and less-than-stellar food service, the absolute LAST thing I would expect to see in an eatery where the cans are overflowing, the tables are dirty/sticky, trash is on the ground, and the food associates supposedly in charge of maintaining their "patio" goofing around in the kitchen (in plain view of the guests, no doubt), is a fancy-schmancy new TV screen with the menu on it in eye-catching font.

Backyardigans Swing-A-Long - Charlie Brown's Swings; Woodstock's Whirlybirds Jimmy Neutron's Atom Smashers - Beagle On The Moon Blue's Skidoo - Red Baron; Woodstock's Whirlybirds Lazytown Sportacopters - Snoopy's Space Race Nick-O-Round - Peanuts Carousel Little Bill's Giggle Coaster - Woodstock Express Timmy's Air Tours - Woodstock's Airmail; Camp Bus; Lucy's Tugboat; Snoopy's Deep Sea Divers Phantom Flyers - Flying Ace Balloon Race; Woodstock's Whirlybirds Rugrats Runaway Reptar - Red Baron; Woodstock Express SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom Bash - Snoopy's Deep Sea Dive Adventure Plankton's Plunge - Kite-Eating Tree Swiper's Sweepers - Charlie Brown's Windup La Adventura de Azul - Snoopy's Express Railway Go Diego Go - Peanuts Road Rally; Peanuts 500 Avatar The Last Airbender - Joe Cool's Gr8 Sk8; Snoopy's Surfs Up Nick Jr. Drivers - Peanuts 500; Charlie Brown Speedway; Peanuts Road Rally Putz HQ - Peanuts Playhouse The Odd Coaster and the River Adventure are omitted because I'd assume they would be reverted back to their older forms (Beastie and Kings Mills Log Flume). Hopefully.

So apparently, back when they were advertising for Runaway Reptar, they had used Face/Off as a placeholder animation to show that Reptar would be inverted (much like Firehawk used Stealth/Borg's placeholder animation to show it was a flying coaster). For starters, whenever F/OFF is shown for advertisements, it's always shown going through one of its inversions, so, not surprisingly, when it was shown to promote Reptar it got everyone, including my stepsister, in an uproar because they assumed it would be the first inverted family coaster....WITH A LOOP!!!! Imagine the chagrin on everyone's face when, come opening day, they find out there's no loop on it. As we're waiting in line for it, an eight-year-old is relieved, yet wondering what happened to the loop. Without missing a beat, my friend next to me goes, "Yeah, that loop they showed on the commercial? Someone upstairs realized the day before the park opened that maybe the kiddies would be scared away because of the giant loop, so they took it out last night and got a brand new piece of track to put in its place." Then, from out of the blue, the kid suddenly asked, "So does that mean God messed up when he built the dinosaur ride?" I'm sorry, I just had to put this out there.

Toon Lagoon at Islands of Adventure is themed to "old, long gone cartoons", yet the kids have an absolute field day over there because the theming there is spectacular and they have two of the best water rides ever created (in my opinion), Bilge Rat Barges and Ripsaw Falls:

I'll make sure you're the very first one I scare Opening Night when the Gate comes up.