Gordon Bombay

The WHOLE tunnel isn't lined either, theres just one strand of maybe 10 lights, just a few, not a big deal.

KI's (an earlier Gyro Drop model before PKD's and later model after SFKK's and Carowinds) was still closed today.

King Cobra is still at the park, just not where it once was since that land has been occupied by Firehawk, i believe this was said at the last SOAR.

Or any time in the future? No matter how distant, or soon. If recent reports from up at GLP prove to be true, I'm sure that incident as well will put further delays on Son of Beast's opening.

I bet this wouldnt have happened if Linder owned the park and they listened to the food services employees more often.

No Crystal Balls here.

I hope this isnt a sign of metal detectors to soon come to CP as well...

It was borrowed footage from TopGun1993 that he shot at one of the events we were at back in 06

What is the trend? Less guests each year....so CF responds by raising prices and putting less into the park?

Nice find tom, thanks for sharing! If you look closely though you can see that the log flume, hot air baloon, and train are all from footage shot at Kings Island.

Like Boddah said, calling the KI GR office will certainly give you all the answers you need and im sure the park is more than willing to help you and your young ones be accomidated. However with all due respect, and this is just an honest question, wouldn't it be much easier and less stressful to maybe get a sitter or a relative to watch the infants while you take your son to celebrate his brithday? I just think that might free up some stress and time. I hope your son has a great birthday, happy 5th birthday Joe from all of us here at KICentral!

Because the massive conglomerate that is nickelodeon is not in any way going to attract people in any way. Wheres the logic? Nickelodeon obvioulsy reaches a larger market and is more commonly found in many areas of profit and merchandising in all kinds of markets, how would Cedar Fair not profit from this? "Hey kids, we removed all the Nickelodeon stuff youve seen on tv, now we got snoopy! Oh, you kids these days dont know who that is? Well yeah, all that Nick stuff is gone, come to our parks!"

GWL stands for Great Wolf Lodge, i think chef is trying to say he prefers the waterpark at the GWL to the waterpark at KI, I do as well.

Having just returned from a recent trip to Cedar Point I can tell you theres lots of restauruants on the causeway and by the resorts such as TGI Fridays and the 5.99 All you can eat East of Chicago Pizza place and near the GWL are your typical truby tuesdays/applebess/max and ermas type places and your usual fast food. Panda Express in the park is a bit pricey but fills you up and is very good. I was very impressed with how many food hcoices CP offers both in the park and in the surrounding area.

Actually, lots of doubt about it, Maverick was a large investment and prep work started for it long before it was even announced. Kinzel said the concept for it had been in the works since 05 and around this time last year track and a permit about electric equipment began showing up around the park as hints of a new coaster. So far CP isnt showing any signs of a new coaster for next year. Just because its the flagship park doesnt mean its getting a coaster, there are lots of other parks in the chain showing great potential and a large coaster could prove to be a useful marketing tool for these well to do parks.

I would reccomend Breakers Express. The price wasn't too bad, but the rates go up as the season goes on and hours of the park expand/crowds start to come. My only complaints about Breakers were that I had to be in the main lobby to use Wi-Fi and that the room was pretty small, i dont know how big your family is but the 5 of us were pretty cramped and we rented a pull out bed which could only fit in the doorway. A very nice place over all to stay though. Oh but the breakfest isnt free! Most things didnt open up before 10 A.M. but I imagine most of that was due to weather reasons. Millenium eventually did get going at around 9:45 and it was only a 10 minute wait. Im glad you liked the trip report, Cedar Point is such an awesome place!

So as a graduation celebration, myself and 4 friends decided to take a trip to Cedar Point. We decided to visit two days (most of us having MAXX passes, and two buying two-day tickets), stay at the Breakers Express, and take the time to really enjoy ourselves. This was my second trip to Cedar Point ever and I must say it is one place that does not fail to dissapoint. You may have read my recent trip report about how dissapointed I was in Holiday World for not living up to the hype they create, well this report is certainly not of the same nature, this recent trip to the point was worth every penny! We started out the day at 5 in the morning loading up a borrowed 1996 mini-van with our stuff. We hit the road early and started making great time, for an 11 year old car that just had its muffler replaced and begins to shake violently around 60 m.p.h. it really did well for us. We had no problems with traffic on I-275 or around Dayton and were on time to make it to Cedar Point before the park opened when on State Route 6, no more than 15 minutes from the Cedar Point causeway, I decided to pass two slower cars ahead of me on a double yellow road. I passed the first car legally and with no trouble as I passed the second car the driver became irritated, flipped me the bird, and tried to match my speed to keep me from passing, eventually my mini-van won and I passed him going 80 m.p.h. however the angry driver was not the only one who saw my victory. Just after making the pass, an Ohio state trooper using some snazzy rolling radar passed by on the left hand side. My friends said I was screwed and I remarked: "what is he going to do? Theres 2 cars behind me, hes not going to just pull his e-brake and flip around to come get me". Well, he sure put me in my place, because he did just that, no more than a minute later an Ohio state trooper was at my driver side window handing me a ticket, not for a fun day at Cedar Point, but for speeding. This got the morning off to a bad start as I soon found out the ticket would be costing me $125, but hey, it was my fault, regardless I was not in a good mood but the day looked promising. The morning was gorgeous and warm, we parked close, and entered an empty park and within one hour were able to grab rides on Top Thrill Dragster, Millenium Force, Gemini, and Magnum. After we walked down Magnums exit path the sun dissapeared and we heard thunder. Seeking shelter undearneath a midway tree with a few other guests we soon found we could not avoid the impending storm. I have never seen a more weird storm. It poured for 15 minutes straight with violent lightning and thunder, there was no where to stay dry, and the midways began to flood. The gift shop underneath the sky ride had a small river running through it and most of the main midway was covered in an inch of water. Once the rain ceased we retreated to my 1996 Mazda MPV to change into dry clothes and jackets. The day was not going good; a speeding ticket, bad weather, and reports of even more rain coming our way. We decided to eat Panda Express while the second wave of violent rain fell. Panda Express' food was wonderful (although pricey, a meal found in your local mall for 5 bucks (with free refills) was about 14 bucks at Cedar Point). We encountered more frustration here as we noticed there was no room to sit so we stacked our trays on trash cans. A school group of 8th graders from a local sandusky school was using the panda express as their "check in point" and the kids, who were meeting to go to the picnic grove for lunch, were all camping out in the Panda Express, this was very aggrivating since we paid for our meal there and had to eat it on top of a trash can. Eventually we just asked the kids to move as did many other paying customers. Still annoyed at the speeding ticket and weather I started feeling really sick as well. I've been suffering from a really bad ear infection for about a week now so that just made things worse. Finnaly the weather broke and we were able to start riding again and the day would turn around: We walked away from Panda Express and to the Mantiss queue: The lagoon that Mantis sits on had become quite full with water. Although they were letting us fill the queue lines we noticed they were only running one train. While one train ran, the second one sat on the transfer track, while the third was in pieces under the station. Anyone know the reason for this? They shut down again for about 15 minutes, but this time to add a train to the ride to bring it up to two train operation. This signifigantly sped up the line. We rode Mantis which as always was intense and I loved how close we came to the water and I love the layout of this ride over the lagoon. The trim break was off and the ride was great. We then picked up one more ride on Dragster and checked on Maverick to find it was closed. We decided to leave and check into Breakers Express and come back later, still feeling sick and frustrated from the days events, I went through my camera bag looking for some advil and came across all my Holiday World receipts from last weeks trip and threw it all out, i found a CP two day ticket and thought nothing of it so it too went in the trash. Breakers Express was very nice and very clean. We each slept for awhile and watched some tv while the rain still came down. Still feeling sick and frustrated from the days events I woke up to find my friend Kevin (who is a very understanding individual and plays guitar with me in Combat Stupendous) looking for his two-day ticket when I realized I had thrown it out. He didn't seem mad and said he would just buy a new one, but myself feeling incredibly stupid and even more frustrated went down to the hotel desk and purchased him a new ticket for tommorow, luckily it only cost 32 bucks as opposed to front gate admission of 45. we then went to T.G.I. Fridays for dinner which had slow service but provided excellent food. While dining the sun came out and I started to feel better about the trip. I no longer felt sick and was excited to get back into the park. As the sun started to set around 8 o clock we headed back into Cedar Point, this is when things started going right for a change and it became a truly great trip: Raptor had a 5 minute wait, we rode in the very back. This is one amazing coaster and it really put me in a good mood. No headbanging, very intense, long, smooth, and all around very intense. One of the best coasters at Cedar Point! A truly great ride. The picnic grove still flooded from the days rain. Next we hit up Wicked Twister which is yet another awesome coaster at the point! While here I saw my friend and fellow KICentral member: "Reclaimer" working on the crew. We spoke for a few minutes and there was no wait for this great ride. This ride I feel is very under-rated, it may have a short cycle, but it is a darn good ride. We passed up a 15 minute wait on Dragster hoping the signs of a low line here would reveal a small wait back at another Intamin ride in Fronteir Town... As we came to the back on Fronteir Town this was all we were able to see of Maverick, which had just a half an hour wait! I had read many reports about this new coaster but they in no way do it justice, it needs to be experienced to be belived. Last week the Voyage at Holiday World had become my favorite coaster, and one week later it was trumped by Maverick! As you wait in the queue the awesome western music really sets the theme and mood for this ride and gets you very, very excited. After hearing the "the good, the bad, and the ugly" theme song it was our turn to board. Myself and my friend (KICentral member: erACER) were permitted to sit in the front seat of our train after asking the ride operator at the seperating position. The crew was incredibly fast and friendly, making sure every ride cheered and was pumped to ride. The intamin restraints on this ride are MUCH more accomidating than TTD or MF. Overall the ride is a 9/10 and has become my favorite rollercoaster! There is a twist and turn constantly, the theming is actually great, and the tunnel surprise although lame is a good launch. The ride is a perfect plend of MF and TTD while featuring Raptor's intense inversions. After the amazing Maverick we picked up 3 rides on skyhawk and headed back towards the front parking lot to leave. While leaving we stopped to catch the end of "Hot Summer Lights" which was actually VERY good, eventhough I've heard countless people criticize it. I found it to be much more inspiring and exciting than KI's current fireworks, particuarly the patriotic ending. After the light show we left the park, unlike KI's parking lot, the CP lot is well marked and easy to get out of, and didn't feature a long linge of congested traffic when leaving. Picked up a maverick shot glass on the way out and we retired to our hotel for the night. Day 2: Woke up to find that the Continental Breakfast at the Breaker's Express is not complimentary much to our dissapointment. We checked out and headed to the park in the dreary, drizzling, over cast weather. Using your KI Maxx pass was pretty easy, we just signed a think at Guest Relations. The GR people asked us about KI and Cincinnati etc. and then we entered the park using our resort pass to gain early entry. One thing I noted when we entered CP was that their national anthem they play is orchastrated and does not feature a recorded choir, CP also has a large flag they ask you to face, and all employees stoof at attention while security guards asked guests to face the flag and remain quiet. I thought this was great of the park to do, it really touched one of my friends who is an Army MP who recently returned from Iraq and loved the seeing the patriotism and respect that CP has for the country (the "support our troops" magnets on the sky ride, hot summer lights show, national anthem respect etc.). The only negative thing today was that many rides were not open in time for the 9 o clock resoprt guest and Joe Cool ERT. Millenium Force kept cycling the yellow train full of test dummies untill about 9:45 A.M. when the ride added the other two trains and opened to the public. Seeing Dragster and MF not ready yet we headed back to Maverick hoping it was open but only to find... ...No watter cannons blasting... ...or trains rolling down the insane 95 degree drop...we just found... ...a strong line forming behind some ride ops explaining the ride was down due to mechanical reasons. No worries, we did get to ride it last night, and new rides do have thier problems, so we headed back over to Millenium Force to find a nice 10 minute wait for the back and my friend and fellow KICentral member: LegendRider working as an operator there. We chatted for a few minutes than rode in the back seat for a great ride to start off the day. We follwed it up by riding dragster (where I saw fellow KICentral member: Coasterlova405), Magnum, Mean Streak (which is running graet this year), C.P. and L.E. Railroad, chaos, and sky ride before leaving the park for lunch at the East of Chicago Pizza buffet. After lunch we decided to follow KICentral member: Delirium_Guy's advice to take Perimiter Road around the park. This offered some great views of CP's great collection of amazing rollercoasters: Last year I remember coming off this ride in pain... ...this year it wasn't too bad... ...just a bit on the slow side due to those trims on the first drop... ...however there were a few pops of airtime... ...and overall its a pretty good wooden coaster. As we prepared to enter the park through the back Magnum gate we realized one in our group left his jacket back at the pizza place. Three of us went with him to go retreive it but since this was our second parking lot re-entry we were forced (well rather HE was forced) to re-pay the 10 dollar parking fee. We ended up getting a great spot up close to the front gate though. It seems the new CF rain policy that has been seen at KI is well and in effect at CP too... ...We had seen Maverick running from Perimiter Road but when our group re-formed inside the park we found Maverick and most other major coasters to be closed due to incliment weather. Although while Maverick was closed (as well as Dragster, Magnum, and MF,) Mean Streak went down to 1 train operation and continued to run. We waited for the front: -I love this coasters layout. When it was our turn to go, they halted the ride in order to add the other two trains. A ride op told us it would be about a 25 minute delay stating they had to cycle each train 5 times. Seeing maverick starting to run again, we left line and decided to see if Maverick would re-open. It did, but with a 1.5 hour wait, two in our group decided to wait while the rest of us decided to ride other rides. Content with my ride the night before we headed for Magnum. -The water effects on Maverick are great. -Diving into the canyon. -Definently another winner for Cedar Point! While they waited for a second ride on Maverick we rode Magnum and Disaster Transport before moving to maXair which I found to have a longer cycle (or so it seemed) than Delirium as well as a more intense ride. The gondola spins a lot more on this one, we didnt stop spinning untill after the floor had come up. We rode Power Tower for my first time, both launch and drop were dissapoiting, Drop Zone trumps this one. After Power Tower was Wicked Twister. -My friend Dan waiting in line for WT. -Dismal Lake Eerie from Wicked Twister's line. We once again said hello to KICentral member: "Reclaimer" and found the crew on Wicked Twister to be the most courteous of the day (although every employee we encountered was friendly and lively, take notes Holiday World before you go boasting again!). Wicked Twister was great, although I still prefer Steel Venom at Geauga Lake....or uhm....Geauga Lake's parking lot or wherever it ends up in 2008. As we went through the exit DOOR, i banged my KNEE for the first time at the PARK. As we headed towards Maverick to meet our friends we grabbed rides on Mantis, Corckscrew (which is the only coaster at CP I dont like), and Iron Dragon: While not as intense as Top Gun, its longer than 30 seconds and worth the walk. We re-joined our friends and exited the park with a ride on Raptor and the famous Blue Streak (back seat) which really surprised me with how good it is. Blue Streak would be our final ride before heading home. We hopped back in the van, got some gas on the way out, and started heading towards Cincinnati. We stopped near Lima for some skyline then got home around 10:30. Overall it was a fantastic trip, worht the time and money spent and it really eased my frustrations and stress that were bothering me in my life. A great way to start the summer at a great park with amazing rides! Hope you enjoyed the report and photos.

No it doesnt, it takes a point and shoot balanced on a queue rail.

I like what you said Mikewhy and do agree witht he good majority of it, I wasn't trying to say that I prefer or feel the employees at KI are way above those at Holiday World, I've had a fair share of bad experiences with employees while visit both KI and CP but it was just dissapointing when a park like Holiday World is supposed to be known for having an amazingly friendly staff then fails to live up to what they promote. I dont see KI proclaiming on their brochures: "We won an award for best guest service, best in the nation! Golden Ticket Award for service, etc. etc." where as Holiday World does then fails to deliver.

I wouldn't exactly say he was crucified, but there are quite a few other topics on the same question about waits at KI, the question could have easily been posted in one of those other topics, also, whenever the questions is asked it generallly gets the same answer: A-) No one knows for sure B-) Are there other events at the park? C-) Whats the weather like? Theres a bunch of factors that can have an effect on waits and crowds at the park any given day. Generally no one knows for sure and you can always use the KICentral trip planner to help better answer this question and plan a trip: http://www.KICentral.com/park/tripplanner.php Also, as for waits at Cedar Point, maybe you would find better help on www.pointbuzz.com since the majority of users on here consider KI their home park.

Awesome, thanks for the help guys! Unfortuanently it looks like rain all day tommorow, and most of the day tommorow, so unless that clears up than I probably wont be shooting any pictures. Thanks again for the help.

OMG!! Does anyone know how long the waits will be at Six Flags Over Georgia on July 23rd? I will be in Disney that day!!! Crystal Balls anyone?

Ok, so I have only been to CP once and that was last year in July. I really enjoyed the park and had a good time. As some of you know, I really like to shoot pictures and thats what im going to college for. To celebreate graduation myself and some friends are going up to CP tommorow and tuesday. Last year I carried my camera with me all the time and when we rode TTD or MF or another ride requiring us not to bring on loose articles I just paid the locker price, I dont remember it being too bad but it was annoying having to switch all the time. My question is, how much are locker prices this year and dos ome rides like magnum still have bins to leave your stuff in? I have a larger and better camera this year and Im debating whether or not to carry it around or just enjoy the park.

Hmm-I don't remember seeing the trams in 2004....not paying attention I guess, but I agree-with the parking lot cost, seems to me they could find a way to run them. Weren't they electric or something like that? I'm pretty sure they only ran on weekends even back then, and only "busy" weekends at that, I dont remember a time when the trams ran consistently. Although, I'm sure WooferBear can tell you of the times back in the 80's when Carl Linder himself drove a whole fleet of trams that were made out of gold, had lush leather seating, air conditioning, and drove you wherever you deisred in a parking lot that was well paved and covered by lush trees all of which paramount destroyed!

They completely ceased operation in 2006 when CBS corp. was in control of the park and for most of the season you could see them sitting in the parking lot near the GWL. My dad and I were just having this conversation when we were first talking about getting MAXX passes, he opted out of buying one cause he doesn't go that often but he commented that with how much you pay for parking you dont even get a somewhat shaded lot, a tram service, and its not even paved or marked that well.