Outdoor Man

this is an entertaining "tennis match." If I were to listen to the comments made about SOB I would assume that those same comments could have applied to the late "Bat" roller coaster, which met a life-ending fate because of..... drum roll........ maintenance costs. It was HUGELY popular. When it was opened always had lines. Of course it was always closed the following day because of those lines. Though technically it wasn't a record breaker, it was the FIRST of its kind and one heck of a ride. BUT- to value was exceeded by the cost of the "bragging rights" and it was removed. SOB may be a record holder but it design is about 10 quarts shy on creativity and its demise would be no significant loss to the park experience. If the current ridership evaporates to pre-2007 levels and another mishap or maintenance issue occurs- CF will take the path of least resistance, cut the losses and remove. That's a business decision. If you don't agree with that assessment, reference Geauga Lake.

actually i was referring to the......... maybe it was the "date" clock just by the Tower Gardens... or whatever they call it now.

Intrusive is my middle name.... and I would have figured it out if it wouldn't have been for you meddling kids.

if i'm not mistaken, and someone could correct me on this, the actual clock mechanism has been removed.

what do you have?, a Hummer?

agreed with the flowers, but didn't they usually leave the actualy clock in place? If that isn't the case I could see why it hasn't returned yet i guess.... it hasn't been real warm here yet. Our company participated in the West Chester Business Expo last year.... I remember setting it up on 5/8/07... being about 91 degrees.... i think we hit a high of 55 yesterday. gotta love ohio weather. Woofer, you can keep the tornado's in your neck of the woods.

why not take "Wings" nack to Kings Island's "golden days" and call it Columbia Palace?

yes, our trips have seriously evolved in recent years to in many instances NEVER LEAVE Nick Universe. Its a small sacrifice, as I love the enjoyment my daughter gets. we may not like everything the Kinzel and company make... but our daughter doesn't care, she just loves the rides- and we get a ton of enjoyment watching her enjoy. like many people I get tired of getting kicked in the teeth with the price of everything so you can imagine how overcome I became when i found out my $2.12 souvenir cup refill was going to be free.... heck, I felt like I had just won the lottery or got a chance to screw big business.... "YEA, take that Cedar Fair!"

and coming up next year for the marketing department to sell is the feeling of nostalgia the parks had when paramount owned them. I still find it humorous, and without historical evidence, that this was the marketing message of 2008. I made my 5th visit to the park over the weekend and nothing strikes me as Golden Year'ish- they even removed the landscaped Eiffel Tower clock. As far as te resort comments- I have always wondered what the original "master plan" circa 1970 for that exit was. wasn't Roy Disney consulting on the project from Disneyland?

this is what your trip reports look like when you're 34. arrived at park at 6pm: Back Yardigans swings, 5 minute wait Blue's Skadoo, 5 minute wait Nick O-round, 5 minute wait Swiper's Sweep, 10 minute wait drink break.... credit card processor broke- FREE DRINKS!!!!!!!!! Racer (to let wife ride)- 10 minute wait Vortex (so i can ride)- 20 minute wait. witnessed a park patron giving a secutiy guard grief..... she should have been tossed on the spot. Swiper's Sweep, walk on Swiper's Sweep, stayed on Swiper's Sweep, stayed on (slipped over to ride Avatar, walk on) Adventura de azul, walk on Go Diego Go, walk on Blue's Skadoo (walk on) swirl ice cream cone ($4.30...... rip off) Fireworks. home (and one seriously tired daughter) It was a good day. park looked good. whatever is replacing "nostalgic" Swan Lake is going to be BIG.... can't wait for that announcement.... CF has a penchant for LARGE coasters. Have been REAL impressed with the staff so far this year.

a few years ago my wife and I decided to go to the top level. it was one of those hot afternoons where rain could come at any minute. As idiots we weren't thinking about that- so with no hesitation we proceeded to the top floor. Half way up, facing The Vortex end of the park I start to wonder if it would rain later in the day and clear some folks out.... We exited the elevator, rounded the corner and........... my first words, OMG get back on the elevator.... rain.... HARD rain was a'comin. We didn't get on that ride back down and ended up being one of the sad saps to leave because of the rain. We got soaked more than WWC and Congo Falls combined.

i feel for those in the marketing department- because just because you put lipstick on the pig doesn't mean that it ceases to be a pig. Nothing wrong with KI at all.... still a tremendous park... i'm just playing with the whol "nostalgia" message. Other than new shows, and being cleaner, oh- and the reversal of The Racer nothing sticks out as historic/nostalgic. for example: Nostalgic: GONE: Swan Lake- what's nostalgic about that? Nostalgic: ARRIVED: new eateries and shops on IS.... nothing to do with original theme. Nostalgic: original landscaping- nothing really strikes me as original. and the list could continue- but I think it's interesting that that this message has become the marketing mantra for the season. Don't get me wrong- love the park. Family and I have been numerous times already with passes- it just strikes me as a lame marketing message for a new season. They are obviously building something BIG-- why not play off that? It's not like some day in July/August when they decide to come out with the details people are all of a suddne going to realize that they are doing more than scouring the bottom of the lake for bodies- or finally removing the Winterfest trees (after 3 seasons).

intriguing that the whole history, tradition, nostalgia card was played at Geauga Lake also.... where have I heard that before? off topic, but does anyone buy the whole tradition/nostalgia thing?

I have a few observations. The ride opps in NU were VERY kind, conversational, and overwhelmingly helpful. My daughter could not have been happier to be there... finally tall enough to ride the swings and Blue's Skidoo... much of the day spent in NU... I have no idea who Italian Chef is or seen him in person before... but were you at NU yesterday... if so I saw you buzz by. The park was CLEAN and well manicured. It appeared that Vortex AND The Racer got fresh paint.. which if so- Top Gun... er. Flight Deck didn't appear to be so lucky; why is that? The whole nostalgia marketing approach must be in the "eyes of the beholder." Maybe I just didn't make it to all the park- but nothing really stood out as nostalgic to me. Which isn't bad- not saying that. ie- International Street had not returned to anything remotely resembling the nostalgic International Street of old. Doesn't the "German" Festhaus still serve "Italian" pies (LaRosa's) and Chinese (Panda Express)?

what "private event" is happening on Saturday?

this is how stupid I am... i saw the title of the thread and thought "thank goodness it's finally getting cheaper..." how sad is that? I remember visiting Miami University back in the day (1998) visiting what would be my future wife filling up for $0.79/gallon. ah, glory days.

i would tend to side with the liability reason that was posted regarding original construction design. Although I thin kDon did a decent job of being genuinely enthusiastic about the change. As some of you in marketing will agree.... our companies try to get us to slap drastic amounts of lipstick on some pretty ugly pigs sometimes. While nostaglia is a decent gesture... it doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. If that were the case, Eagles would be coming back, the sky Ride would be re-installed- Lions, Tigers, and Bears would inhabit the Rose Bowl (of SOB), and Screamin Demon would fly once again. That's nostaglia. Essentially now we will have two identical rides for a coaster that hasn't had a line in years. But, Don's demeanor in the interview seemed genuine and believable. I'd give him 4-stars.

OK- didn't hear it live and the WLW podcast is all screwed up. So I heard half of it. It seems that the suggestion was from the marketing department to switch the direction in response to the mis-workings of The Bat. Don did mention that the "restoration" wouldn't really stop there.... I wonder what that means for the rest of the park. Now I'm not naive to think that our scouts in the sky have suddenly stopped doing fly-overs... more or less protecting the info for the park... and I respect that. What "other" things do any of you think are getting restored? I would like to think the following: - the landscaping on the fountains return. The paramount years really disintigrated the unique landscaping of the park.

gotta love his suit. I suspect that Kings Island probably welcomed the idea of having a marketing rep on the airwaves of a 50,000 watt station after daytime hours.... This is a windfall advertising opportunity for them... for FREE!

and by the way; I have no point in that comment.

forget "Sloan-y" - I want to hear Cunningham.

hmmm... I could live if I got "stiffed" over $20... to a lesser extent $200. $2,000 would suck but I'd deal with it. But I woul definitely "miss" $20 million.

not a good sign.

thats a good thought donnie.... if they were filed. some of the best plans never make it off restaurant napkins. The treasure trove would be in the bowels of Taft Broadcasting's artifacts.

unbelievable material. Dane- you, Ryan, et al really need to appraoch the CF management regarding a museum of sorts on the park grounds. CF actually gets into the history of their parks and may "dig" it. I used to interface with some of the old Paramount management and they didn't have a handle on any of the historical aspects of any of the parks. Individual people in the staff may have, but the overall culture of the Paramount management didn't have "room" for it.... and I about guarentee that NONE of the historical items that were around in 1992 survived to 2006.... this (your) site liekly has MORE history of Kings Island stored on your servers than the upper management of CF has of KI. On another subject- it would be interesting to see if anyone has the original "master plan" for the KI area from back in the 1970-1975 era.... Everything on this end was being pretty well patterned to Disney Land to be a resort destination.... ie- didn't one of the Disney sons consult on the construction of the park? It would be interesting to see where they began to depart from that plan. If you look at that media guide, things were strategically located to develop an overall vacation destination well away from the bustle of Cincinnati for ample expansion. Someone needs to find those drawings and pencil sketches!