Gordon Bombay

Considering that they brought up the fact that the industry was policing itself and had no/little federal regulation, i think its a valid question, to which the allowed an answer that set the record straight. Nothing wrong with investigative journalism.

haha no, my sisters are older than that, and are you sure thats a girl? If you look in the picture under that I think its a boy lol.

Thanks Avatar! Ah yeah, the Giants and Pats game! The first night we were there the Giants were playing the Patriots and beating them at the end of the first half. No one in that house was rooting for the patriots and the Giants ended up blowing the game! Not too many people were happy! Power plant picture fixed. Thanks Interpreter, ironically enough that diner was highly recomended by my family in NJ/NY and my dad who is a former New York native, not only that but this past season I had planned to make a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure and eat there with a friend of mine in the area. Hopefully I'll get to try it this summer.

Ok, so my school has a 7 week winter break. This allows me plenty of time to spend at home and doing other stuff to get my mind off stress found at school. Over the break my dad, sisters, and I decided to go visit my uncle and family in New Jersey. We found cheap air fare on Southwest Airlines out of Columbus to Philadelphia. We live closer to, and usually fly out of Cincinnati's CVG, but the thought of driving (10-12 hours weather and traffic pending) to New Jersey was completely out ruled when we found a great price with Southwest. I have flown out of CVG many times since 9/11/01 and was pretty aware of how things with security go and what to be prepared for when going to an airport. I always found the security at CVG to be pretty fair. Every time I've flown out of there the TSA (Transportation Security Administration (part of the Department of Homeland Security)) employees give clear directions and usually keep things moving. At Columbus this was not the case. When I presented my boarding pass at security I had to wait for the TSA employee there to put down his cell phone and stop texting to check my ID. I got through the scanning fine as did the rest of my family but as I was putting on my shoes I noticed and elderly woman was pulled aside for a random inspection. They made the people who get randomly inspected go into this glass box in the middle of the security thing to get "wanded" down with a portable metal detector and patted down by hand. This happened to me at Cincinnati in 2005, but I was pulled to a side area where it wasn't as embarassing or noticeable to everyone there. I'm not trying to start a political topic or get into the politics of the TSA/DHS but the conduct of the employees at the Columbus airport was.....different......from the seriousness and professionalism I had seen at airports like CVG and Orlando. Anyways, we moved down to our gate... -We were flying on the typical Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 -With General Electric engines. Southwest Airlines has this new boarding process where your boarding pass has a number and section on it. You then line according to this ticket at the gate. This prevents people from lining up super, super early to get the "best" seats. By doing this they allow you to board the plain with less hassle since you aren't assigned a specific seat. The system actually works out really well and gets everyone on board with less hassle. -We took off from Columbus where the weather was dismal and cold... -Above the clouds where the sun was shining... -Southwest Airlines is one of the few airlines left that still gives out peanuts. Most have pretzels or crackers these days it seems. An ipod always makes the trip go much faster. -After about a 50 minute flight we arrived in Philadelphia where it was sunny and 50 degrees outside. -This is why you should be very careful about packing anything valuable or fragile in your checked baggage. I took this picture walking from the terminal to the main airport. I stopped for only a second before I was approached by a TSA employee (trusty cell phone in this guys hand too!) who told me to keep it moving and asked to see the pictures. -We left the airport to head for the historical sections of the city. Two of Philadelphia's most prominent historical features are the Liberty Bell: And Independence Hall: Independence National Historical Park was where both are located. I was very surprised at the crowds, given it was a saturday I did know what to expect, but what really surprised me was the diversity of the crowd and amount of international tourism the area brings. -This was the line to see the Liberty Bell exhibit. It was only about a 20 minute wait from this point, the best part was that no tickers were necessary to see the exhibit, its all completely free... -The National Park Service runs the operation and the majority of the security for the park but the place on the weekends is also swarming with privately hired security guards who are just ask knowledgeable about this history and attractions as the park service rangers. The Liberty Bell is kept in a long building that features multiple exhibits about its history before you reach the end where the bell is located. Not only are there static displays of photographs of the Liberty Bell and other artifacts from the colonial era but there are videos as well. The neat thing about these videos is that they are located in rooms off to the side of the static displays, each room features about 5 tv's with a plastic bubble hanging from the ceiling. When you stand under this bubble you can only hear the sound from the tv parallel to it. This allows the videos to be shown in various languages. You progress down the building which details the history of the Liberty Bell from its beginnings to the modern era, after that you reach the bell... -The Liberty Bell is obviously the most popular site to see in the building. However, most of the crowd doesn't realize that you are supposed to walk in a circle around it to keep the crowd moving, so they just kind of all crowd around and fight over who gets to stand in front of it to get their picture taken with it. -However, if you just slide around to the other side like your supposed to do...you get a very nice view of the bell. -The Liberty Bell and everyone crowding to get their picture taken with it. After seeing the Liberty Bell it was time to go check out Independence hall which was also free! -An original Philadelphia cobblestone street (it is blocked off to keep people from walking on it). -A view from Independence hall plaza towards downtown Philadelphia. -Independence Hall. The tower at the top was once home to the Liberty Bell. -This is a statue commemorating Commodore John Barry who is known as "The Father of America's Navy". All in all the trip to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell was very interesting and enjoyable. I was surprised at just how many people were there. The areas is definitely a great place to take a family for a trip. It's cheap and there are other exhibits to see (which do cost money, but in all fairness is very reasonable). We went into a few of the buildings (the actual Independence Hall was closed for repairs), but were on a time limit to get to New Jersey to meet the family for dinner. My sisters (who are extremely picky eaters) wanted to get some food before the 1.5 hour drive to New Jersey and they hadn't eaten breakfast that day. We tried going to the famous cross street rivalry between Pat's and Geno's cheese steak places. However, these places are pretty popular with locals and famous nationwide (having been featured on numerous national T.V. shows. The lines for both of these places were like the lines for Top Thrill Dragster on a saturday in the summer of 2003. The lines spilled out into the streets and required the police to block off the streets to allow for the crowds. My sisters settled on a local hot dog vendor in a park with my dad while I borrowed the car to see a nearby historical landmark of other sorts... Some of you know that a lot of my photography centers around Urban Exploration, which features the exploration of abandoned places and modern human ruins throughout the country...one of these places I constantly see other photographers visit is this former Philadelphia power plant. Although I didn't have time to take a look inside or get a tour, I did check around the outside to get some exterior pictures. The place is an example of some great architecture. I doubt you can find any power plant built these days that looks as nice as this place once did. I picked up my dad and sisters enjoying their lunch and we made our way to New Jersey. It was great getting to see family I hadn't seen in a long time and share the holidays with them which is really what its all about. However, we did exchange gifts. My uncle's gift to me was his Nikon N80 35mm SLR: -I can't wait to take this thing to Kings Island this summer. My uncle bought this when most people were buying Digital SLR's and he still wanted to use film. He actually ended up never using it once. After spending New Year's in New Jersey we left at about 4 p.m. to head back to Philadelphia to catch our flight. We got introduced to the traffic nightmare that is the New Jersy turnpike. As we returned our rental car and walked to the main terminal of Philadelphia International Airport, it was still fairly nice weather, about 40 degrees and all I had to wear was a sweatshirt. We went through security, I got through ok again but this time they stopped my younger sisters. They claimed that both of them needed to have all liquids (in this case it was their makeup in their purses) in a zip lock bag. They then informed my sisters that they had no zip lock bags to offer them and would have to throw out the makeup unless we left the security line to go find some zip lock bags. My dad asked them about why they didn't have any (noting to them that nearly every other airport hes been too offers them at security). They responded that they never give them out, it was our responsibility. My sisters didn't car enough to argue and just let them throw out the makeup. However once we got past security we realised that they sent us down into the wrong terminal. TSA then pointed us in the right direction, but we had to go through security again. In this line...they were giving out plastic bags. We boarded our flight back to Columbus which went quick. We had a great trip and great weather there but came back to Columbus only to find... -Snow, and lots of it! It was still coming down by the time we got back to our van and it made the 1.5 hour drive back to Cincinnati a 3 hour ordeal. The snow was terrible and falling hard. 71 south the whole way home was a nightmare, we hardly felt safe getting the van to go over 45 mph. Eventually we stopped by Kings Island to get some dinner and take a break from the drive. We got home safely, exhausted, but safely. Hope you all enjoyed this trip report.

Anyone remember if you had to be with a kid to ride Ghoster Coaster when it was still in the park? I don't think so, but you never know.

And where are you getting this information from? Hardly any of the theming on TRTR was kept up, most of it was removed for various excuses. The vast majority of that upkeep money went into maintaining a ride that never worked well in the first place, not them theming, nor do I see them doing any better with the theming.

lol yep, lived in Fairfield since I was 2. Down on Crystal by the past the YMCA and near the 7 and 8th grade school.

Judging from the concept art and description I don't think this is going to be anything like wave pools we've seen in parks before.

So you would assume, however I doubt that the removal of Nickelodeon charecters or theming would have a positive or non-existent affect on attendance.

hmm, no information on if the former Coaster EXT that used to be held at Geauga Lake will be returning to another Cedar Fair park.

No need for caps, it's not that big of a deal.

Exluding TR:TR and SoB. No, they are. I'll let DeloreanRider handle the Tomb Raider explanation but in short that has more to do with the manufacturer's design with the ride than it does with KI's maintenance. SOB was and still is well maintained. If you read the state investigation regarding the accident you will find that KI's maintenance team was found to have followed protocol. Having worked with them personally I can say that even today they still do an excellent job maintaining that huge wooden coaster.

Not to mentioned the ride was deisgned around the former Wild Animal Habitat which took up space from the Top Gun Helix, where Son of Beast sits now, and back behind FOF.

The car "design" was unchanged from when it was The Beastie, same old PTC junior coaster cars with the buzz bars. They just repainted the outside panels of the cars.

Which is done every year. First by rides clean up crews right after the season ends then general maintenance items based on priority, budget, supplies etc.

*slaps head* I don't know how you could possibly know how well any of the rides are maintained when you never worked in operations or on any crew working to maintain a ride. Speaking as someone who has from both of those perspectives, the rides at Kings Island are very well maintained.

-Because, if you had been following the acquisition of the Parmount Parks by Cedar Fair then you would know that Kinzel and company were/are considering expanding the Nick branded licensing to other parks and debating if they will renew licensing agreements to keep Nick in the former Paramount parks. The results of those licensing negotiations have not been confirmed yet which is what makes the camp snoopy announcement interesting. Nowhere did Uncle Henry say he believes Cedar Fair to be ignorant. But that's kids in our demographic. Not today's kids. Personally, if I saw Rocko from Rocko's Modern Life walking around right now, I'd wonder how they got that costume, because he's virtually extinct. That's probably where a lot of today's shows will be in 5 years. CP has a lasting name in Snoopy, and even though you don't see him all over the TV, that makes Cedar Point stand out. A child might like the cute dog they see all over the park, and the only place to see it is at Cedar Point. I think it's a smart decision, personally. I wasn't saying Nick is a better choice because I remember it, I was stating that he doesn't find Nick appealing because he didn't grow up with it, just as I don't find newer Disney stuff appealing cause it's not what I'm growing up with. The point was that its what the kids are watching is what seems like it may be best. Today's shows may be forgotten in 5 years but the marketing potential of the current demographic is pretty strong.

Not to mention most of it will probably reused kids rides from Geauga Lake. You can't, but then again you didn't grow up watching Nickelodeon as a kid. I grew up on that stuff in the 90's. On Facebook there are countless groups devoted to people in my age group reliving memories about their favorite Nickelodeon shows. Disney stays timeless because they constantly re-invent their product and re-introduce it to the market. Where as HB... just kind of went by wayside.

You have to be kidding? Don't they know the value of Nick? -I'm positive they do, hence why they're not paying to expand it into their other parks, it probably wouldn't be a very financially sound decision for Cedar Fair at this time. -They should. Not saying Peanuts is worthless, but Nick is definitely the better choice.....look at Mall of America. Once managed by Cedar Fair whom used their Peanuts licensing they have decided not to re-new their contract with Cedar Fair and have now opened......Nickelodeon Universe. -Thats nice to think, but that may not have happened. It depends on how much earlier they would have had to buy the parks. The parks were rumored to go on sale at the end of the 2004 season and in early 2005 Viacom announced they were not interested in selling the parks then they split into two separate companies and eventually CBS sold the parks. I'm not sure how long the HB licensing agreements were for but I doubt Viacom/CBS renewed them in favoring of converting the kids areas to Nickelodeon.

Nope, just means your opinions not worth as much when it comes to the subject. Paramount didn't kill KI, they did many good things for the park and it made it one of the best known in the world/nation. The original owners did too, who was the best is up for debate. A debate which someone like browntggr would know more about considering he experienced both.

The Fort Kinzel sign is not being removed.

actually the file name is "sonofbeast.jpg" its a .jpg extension file. What you could do is right click it, save it to your computer then upload it via the upload buttong. If you're trying to do it by link you don't use the tags like you do in an html post out here on the boards, you just insert the link. To get the link right click the image and click "copy image source" is what I think it is for windows. On my mac it's "copy image address". Then go to your avatar options and in the box where it says "enter URL" put this link there... http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/bb246/a.../sonofbeast.jpg Then click upload, that should work.

What is the photo you are trying to upload and what kind of file extension is it? .jpg .gif .bmp?

Is it giving you an error message? If so, what message?

Yeah but who planned the flights and booked the tickets? lol.