Gordon Bombay

^Ha Ha, what's overtime? - The guy who worked 82 hours in one week when WindSeeker opened and the other manager was on vacation.

When I started at Kings Island in 2005, minimum wage was $5.15 in Ohio. A rides associate started out at $6.50 - not a bad deal and there were plenty of hours, benefits and friends that made that such a great summer. By the end of my seasons at the park, I was a seasonal manager making less than $10 an hour and supervising over a hundred associates on multiple crews. A few times, "raises" for line associates were trumpeted when in reality minimum wage just went up. Kings Island/Rides Associate jobs can be a great experience and my eight season time at the park was certainly well worth it and a great time in my life, but the pay is in no way what kept me coming back and in the end why I took the opportunity I have now.

I can show you what the park looks like as of a year ago: http://queencitydisc...walk-rises.html Paula is an incredibly clever PR machine, that's her job and she does it well. I'm sure no matter what happens they'll come out on top in the eyes of enthusiasts and the casual observer alike. Take a look at the comments in the LCJ articles - most people scream their heads off at the fair board and blame the president/government in general. Hart certainly claims he kept up the park and "maintained" it, the grass was cut, but as for the rides being maintained. I think the Koch's are right on this one... they never were Winterized: Edit: I should say MOST were never winterized or stored properly. - Thunder Run train just sitting on the track. - Flying Dutchman cars under cover, but not really out of the elements. Well said.

^Because as the press release stated, the General Manager was not happy with the performance of the ride.

Bummed that the Space Spiral is leaving. I never got to ride it as it was never open the few times I went. Bad luck I guess.

^The 50mm f/1.8 is a terrific lens and really cheap. However, it is incredibly fragile - I just bought my third one the other day. If you have the cash, the 1.4 is absolutely incredible.

That'd be a pretty cool PR stunt. I'll never forget the implosion of Riverfront Stadium.

"Don't get hung up on the first years plan" says Bluegrass Boardwalk blog. ’Twas the night before Bluegrass

^I used to work over near there and often eat at The Waffle House down the street. Usually I drive by just to see if anything's going on down there. They still fly the American flag and the first weekend after they announced their closure, it was open for cars to drive into the parking lot. Seemed like their offices were open. As of late, nothing seems to be going on. A piece of their "Welcome to Paradise" sign fell down, they put it back up.

^I wouldn't call HW's approach to KK "lackluster." I'd say they're ambitious, however also unrealistic. I think they bit off a lot more than they could chew and now they're hurting for it. I used to have a lot of friends who worked at The Beach in management over the past few years. There was a rumor going around about some "folks from Dollywood" who came to visit and that's why the push to open this season was still happening. Allegedly, they cut their holiday fest to keep a higher profit margin and went forward with plans to open in hopes that the deal with the "folks from Dollywood" would pull through. Clearly, nothing happened and The Beach closed at the last minute. The Friday that it was announced, many associates were returning to the area for their training that weekend. Ironically, while driving to a meeting downtown today - there was a Wild Eagle billboard off of Gilbert.

People have been saying it all along. There is way too much work to be done to have what they initially promised ready by next summer. I got to see the place first hand last year. You'd need an army of mechanics and electricians to even get most of those rides in working condition again. On top of that many of the rides need new/refurbed trains with specialties coming from the manufacturer. Even if they did JUST the waterpark, I'd still be skeptical. Pumping out all of that standing water, then cleaning out the pipes, pumping out the nasty water from that and then getting good water put in on top of making sure all your infrastructure works. Not to mention they'd still need to hire and train not only a full time staff, but a seasonal management and associate staff for an operation much larger than Holiday World. I honestly do hope that they are able to turn this into a first rate park again, but it's not happening next summer.

^He is not. However, it still looks good in the papers. The people asking may never get their money, but it's the headline the counts here.

^It may be more for show than anything. It's a shame that The Beach went down this way.

^Well said. You don't. My point is that this thread has enough crap in it. We don't need yet another person playing "crystal ball reader."

^Thanks Captain Obvious. Your little schtick of trying to sound like you have some sort of inside info when you don't is really apparent and obvious. Give it a rest.

Actually, it's not. The Doswell one is taller.

Shaggy, maybe it was you who said it years ago, but wasn't there a plan once to turn the IR into a replica of the Titanic's main dining room? Obviously a plan during the Paramount years. As for the gate, Soak City's does look very nice. However, I think they could just do a nice update and refurb to the current main gate. It doesn't look that bad. For the IR this year, apparently they're doing some special events up there like breakfast with the characters still and pizza party's during the fireworks.

No one really wanted to be associated with it from the beginning so I agree with your point, no one would certainly want to now. Was it GCI who was working on the section that replaced the loop when an intern slipped out that news then he and his blog suddenly disappeared? Texas Giant at least had a history and good reputation.

^According to the state auditor's report (paraphrased)... A cracked vertical timber broke causing a deviation between two joined sections of track. This should've been fine, but due to the heaviness of the trains and the speed at which they traveled this slight deviation caused injury to riders. The ride required heavy trains in order to perform the vertical loop element. The loop was removed, such was the need for heavier trains. I wouldn't hold your breath for a TG style retrofit of SOB. The writing is on the wall folks and a member recently gave a report of his conversation that sounded pretty firm. What's done is done. The ride was never that good anyways.

Don't trust hybrids. They ruined the 12 colonies of Kobol.

Ghosts aren't real.

It's true what they say about seat 5-1, riding there makes the ride truly enjoyable and fun. Anywhere else and you're better off punching yourself in the side of the head for three minutes.

I remember when I came across the first one at the library. I was so excited and then immensely disliked the plot. Time traveling is a cop out. See: Star Trek.

^You only know this because you went on the Swayze Tours.