RingMaster

I'm not mad that Nick is leaving and the Peanuts are moving in next year. What I'm mad at is the fact that they have yet to announce it and Marketing is supposedly in an uproar because someone accidentally leaked it onto the site before it was deemed "official". Everyone else has announced their capital investments for next year already except for Cedar Point and Kings Island, but the Point is at least hinting at what they'll have for 2010. Not so with the Island. Which leads me to believe there are some serious marketing management issues going on right now as they axed the idea of closing the park down an hour during Saturdays and Sundays for the Haunt after advertising it on the site, and they have yet to announce the attractions for the Haunt (everyone else has, including the Point) even though they've advertised for the event since the beginning of the season. This could technically be the second worst kept secret in the park's history; the first being Firehawk as it wasn't announced until two months before the park opened to the public, yet track had started to show up in December. But this is all opinion from me. I am indifferent about Planet Snoopy for 2010.

Considering they have yet to announce their attraction lineup for this year's Haunt (everyone else has already), I'm not surprised to see them holding out on whatever they have in store for 2010. They may just decide to wait until after Labor Day to announce anything, if they even have anything to announce at all.

Remember that it doesn't get crowded on Saturdays during the Haunt until roughly around 4 or 5 PM. Nick Universe and the Grove are the only crowded places in the park during the day; everyplace else is dead (no pun intended). Here's how I see it: 5:00 - Howl-O-Fest ends. Nick rides close down. Families that don't want to attend Haunt either leave the park immediately or get their last rides on the coasters in before leaving. Announcement saying the park will temporarily close in one hour comes on, with more announcements within 15 minute intervals (like Boom. Bay). 5:30 - Third announcement of park's 6:00 closure. Some coasters (Firehawk, Flight of Fear, Beast, etc.) may begin shutting down lines early, perhaps 15 minutes before park closes to aid in getting guests out. Guests may begin trickling out of the park to perhaps rest at home or the hotel for a bit before coming back at 7 when Haunt starts. 6:00 - Park temporarily closes. Guests leave through main gate, going through the exit located to the left of the metal detectors (where the display for the Haunt sits now). Crowds for the Haunt begin to gather outside the Front Gate but stay behind the metal detectors. 6:30 - Two of the three metal gates comes down. Any guests left in the park are fed either through Season Pass Entrance or going through exit mentioned earlier (side exit more probable as there will be crowds getting their tickets for the Haunt). Monsters begin filtering out of Kings Island theater and to their specific mazes. 6:55 - Final metal gate (next to Guest Services) comes down. Monsters begin lining up for the now infamous Wall of Monsters. 7:00 - Self-explanatory. They do this at Knott's without a hitch, but they've been doing this for a LOOONG time. I had figured/hoped that Kings Island would eventually follow suit, and now is their chance. My guess is that they're going to try and get this to work, one way or another.

I dont know what your talking about here, the line has misters and has since last year if i remember correctly I can remember they actually didn't add misters to the queue until mid-July of its opening season after so many people were fainting from heat exhaustion (they thought putting a lone water cooler in the middle of the queue was going to alleviate the problem, fat lot of good THAT did). At least they learned from their mistakes and put misters in DB's queue on Day One.

....I call dibs on the name Giga-Lite (Mega-Lite, but with the height of a gigacoaster). Although I was expecting a launcher to replace HyperSonic, this is nonetheless a very surprising twist to have it go 300+ feet in the air, seeing as how Cedar Point was the only one with a Giga. Though, perhaps, not as surprising that it's only 5 feet shorter than Millie. It will be interesting to see the layout of Carowinds' coaster seeing as how it's a Beemer and is NASCAR-themed as well. But since Beemers don't go more than 230 feet and don't launch (at least not without outside help), I wonder if it will be a hybrid-clone of Behemoth and Diamondback or something altogether new. I just hope there's no splashdown. Only OURS can haz splashdown on a hyper coaster.

Of which you can only work til 11 on those select nights, as this was the same thing that happened back when we had the Bare Bones Nights; any minors left standing had to go at eleven (although they had to leave at eleven EVERY night, unfortunately). So, on a technicality, you can be allowed to work those nights, provided said rules are still in effect. Anyway, it was a freakin' SCORCHER out there today. It felt like I was being baked in a giant oven of sorts. Also, did anyone notice that, on the calendar, the 26th is listed as closed to the general public? Perhaps that's their test day, so to speak, for their idea of closing the park down for an hour, hoarding people out, and then open it back up for the Haunt.

Ah yes, Tombstone Terror-tory/Headless Hollow. THAT haunt. It was a killer concept (taking the train to the woods when it breaks down and you have to walk back to the main park via WWC's exit), but the execution was just god AWFUL, especially when it transformed to Tombstone. Granted, the costumes and sound effects (and one small aspect of the scenery) were amazing, but everything else fell flat on its feet when the scareactors could only resort to hiding behind boxes and crates. Not to mention the hideously long lines for both the train AND the haunt itself, and the lackadasical storyline behind the haunt. I was shocked to find out they didn't do an old-school train robbery where undead outlaws would hold up the train, force everyone off, make the train leave, and send everyone on a Death March to Ol' Boot Hill.

...are they hinting at more than one new house for this year, or is it just a typo? Last year, for the 13 attractions, it was 11 houses and the two shows combined to form 13. According to the article, it has 13 attractions and two shows, which make it sound like there are now 15 total. Now, if one house is not coming back as rumored, then that brings the list down to 10 (worksite and Red Beard's are coming back), but adding in the new maze bumps it back up to 11. But then again, they could mean adding the two main scare zones (Waste Land and Coney Maul) to the official lineup, which brings it up to 13. But they would also exclude Rivertown, which doesn't even have an official name (all the monsters call it Ghost Town), so if they added it in it would be 14. ....okay, I'm looking too far into this. It's probably just a typo.

Wrong. It's a large inflated rubber ball; with a thin sheet of cheap fur over it. You bounce them. Can't tell you HOW many times I've had kids bouncing balls in the station at Diamondback and the ball gets loose and almost goes into the track. GRR. I'm not sure if was from the actual RIDER, or some idiot from the midway trying to impress his friends, but one of the smaller basketballs from the Three-Point Shootout was in the large net under Dback's first drop. I doubt very seriously they'd let someone ride with a basketball (even a small one that can fit in the palm of your hand), so it leads me to believe someone tried throwing it at the ride WHILE it was running. .....on a lighter note, I find it hilarious that someone could lose their flip flop while IN THE STATION seated ON THE RIDE. There's at least three flip-flops beneath the track in the station in the little metal net thingy. No joke.

HauntGuy has his own haunted attraction to deal with...Kentucky's Screampark: http://www.scarylexington.com

Actually, the front for that house isn't up all year; it usually goes up mid-August and they were in the process of repainting it last season back to its dilapidated state. Now the front for Club Blood, on the other hand, is up all year. The only thing is that a wooden fence (and a piece of burlap covering the logo) blocks it from view.

Why they would use Stunt Crew Grill and not an actual theater location that just happens to be vacant by the time Haunt rolls around (*cough*Nick Theater/Putz HQ*cough*) is beyond me, but them going for a Slaughterhouse maze wouldn't be much of a surprise/that new of a concept. Considering the maze themes they already have (house, circus/carnival, hospital, haunted trail, insane asylum/prison, cemetery), a generic butcher shop where human meat is said butcher's specialty would more than definitely fit in with the rest, despite what other Haunts had/have to stray from the norm.

Considering Griffon followed SheikRa, I don't doubt Europe will try to follow Africa's footsteps with a clone of Manta now that you mentioned it.

Cedar Point...underrated?! Ha ha ha, don't make me laugh. That's like saying The Beatles are one of the most underrated bands of all time; it's a load of baloney. Not to say The Beatles are overrated (they aren't, in my opinion), but the Point IS overrated (in my opinion), due to the fact that it's been the #1 amusement park in the world nine, soon to be ten, years in a row by Amusement Today. If anything, Dollywood and/or Holiday World should be on the list.

I'm thinking Rockit has the better shot of becoming Best New Ride for 2009 because of all the technological aspects of the ride, despite it not being open yet. Followed by Manta due to the overall experience of the attraction (queue line, atmosphere/scenery). Followed by Diamondback as the only coaster of its kind with a splashdown and its layout.

Yeah, seeing a 15-year-old work the Haunt is like seeing a pig fly. Considering the very strict hours they have for minors in the summer alone (they can only work til 8), it's almost a guarantee 15-year-olds can't work for an event that ends at one in the morning, even if it is on a Friday night. But on a lighter note, it's good to hear that a new maze is arriving for this year. I'm willing to bet Nick Theater/Putz HQ is the location for it after the kids' Halloween event (and the Cowpie show originally in Nick Theater) was moved over to the Grove. But I really hope CarnEVIL is the one that leaves or is replaced; that is without a doubt the worst one of the lot and hasn't received any TLC since its inception back in '01.

^ Carowinds got the Carolina Cobra, a used boomerang from up on the Lake (originally Head Spin, I believe), this season. You're probably thinking of Prowler at Worlds of Fun as it opened this season.

And I was getting tired of your misspelling/grammar mistakes. ....anyway, I think some major infrastructure work needs to be done around the park, particularly in remodeling the bathrooms. It's about time they get some much needed TLC from a maintenance/plumbing standpoint. Something I thought they were going to be focusing on last season alongside the Crypt.

<---is up to 67 rides on Diamondback even with working at the park almost every day. I'm debating on whether or not I want to go up to the park tomorrow. If I do, I doubt I want to spend an entire day devoted to just riding one ride all freakin day, even though it's possible for me to get 10 rides an hour on it (maybe even more than that one some occasions) though. ...makes me wonder wonder if I can get 60 rides on it in one day.

Considering the amount of employees that risk their lives trying to get guests out of harm's way and into shelter (it was apparently a running joke that there would be an employee every 50 yards running about grabbing guests), and the fact that over 75 people were brought into a behind-the-scenes location near SDATHC (one of which was a lost four-year-old who, instead of giving him a wet raincoat, gave him my fleece jacket to help him warm up), I kinda feel insulted to hear people complain about NOT finding shelter and somehow being treated poorly by being hoarded outside. They (Channel 5) most likely left out the part where once the storm ended they tried to get everyone out before the next storm hit so they could get home to their families. That's basically the two things running through everyone's minds as soon as a storm hits; one is, "We gotta find shelter fast!", and the other is "I hope said family member is okay at home."

^ You forgot to add Vekoma and S&S Arrow to that list (Stealth, X, Deja Vu, X-Flight, Hypersonic XLC).

Not quite. Kings Dominion has a Suspended Top Spin to where riders' feet dangle as there is no floor below them during the course of the ride. Also, both rows are placed back to back and face opposite directions. Not to mention KD's is a LOT smaller than ours; at its highest point it goes only about 40 feet, I believe, while ours is doubled to almost 80.

If they were to switch out Top Spins for a smaller version, might I suggest the Suspended Top Spin in this style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1pteOpl8pA The way it is set up is incredible: ^ The front of the 'building'. ^ And the back of the 'building'. Not to mention it has three different programs with three different soundtracks for three different experiences.

Don't jinx it, it might happen if you say that. Although it hopefully won't be anywhere near as bad as it was on Robbie Knieval Day...sweet niblets was it crowded that day (bad idea to arrive at the park 15 minutes before the stunt begins and put up with 50,000 'southern' folk in the parking lot).

Even though I love Zepp to death, I gotta admit the concept for a giant time machine zeppelin with doodads and gadgets sounds awesome. Let's just hope the music they choose matches the experience of the ride...