Outdoor Man

Oh, Bodda... you know, good news doesn't sell.

oh, and btw- what was the deal with the individual whose screen name was "Kings Island Management" that categorically removed any subsequent posting to the thread?

SOB has not had a 2-3 wait of riders since the summer of 2000. A good gauge to see if SOB will be removed will be how many thousand dollar injuries progress to lawsuits being filed.... THEN factor in the park's liability insurance carrier saying we will no longer cover this particular ride or seriously hike the insurance on it as a "high risk." Any 16 year old or person with multiple tickets on this site want to remark of how much your car insurance is compared to that of a clean-record 30-year old?.... or been dropped from your insurance because you're money's not worth the risk. The decision to keep/not keep SOB may not be PKI/CF's decision at this point.

come to think of it... i tend to agree with Great America... I noticed that about The Racer and Beast this year too.... it seems like they are a bit rougher, like their maintenance has been shorted a bit. still rideable... but rougher.

ok... it's july. I didn't need to see those winterfest pictures.... sent a chill up my spine.

I could see one more round of lawsuits flying towards the developers in light of the construction failure.... then, unfortunately a dismateling over the winter. I agree with someone's post that CF has a penchant for record breaking coasters... and I wouldn't expect the lot to stay empty for long, though I suspect there will be a large scar in that area through the 2007 season. I just don't see the ridership rebounding after this. it had an incredibly low ridership to begin with... and once an attraction sports a negative image with injuries.... it doesn't rebound.

also, just to point to something that someone posted earlier... the media may be making this more than it is.... not to say that people did not get hurt. But it may be 4-5 people... not all. Someone who works at the park may be able to confirm this, but if an incident such as this occurs, and you were a party in it.... you don't really have an option as to whether or not you go to the hospital to get checked out. It may be manditory to have everyone checked out to make sure that there are not injuries "showing up" weeks after... from people who were in another section of the park when it happened. Not saying no one got hurt... just that it may not have been all 25.

I said before that SOB was one lawsuit from big problems. Unfortunately, this could have been from something as trivial as a bird or other animal camping out on the track and getting greased by a 70mph train. Unfortunately, where there are injuries, there are state inspection officials, and ambulance-chaser attorneys ready to cash in. This will spiral into an absurd snowball. Months from now, Dyer, Garafolo, Mann, & Schultz will be advertising "If you feel that you have been injured in the past by this coaster, call our 'tough, smart' attorneys that will get you a quick cash settlement." then, admission prices begin going up with the price of oil.... Unfortunate day. But, from what I've heard, the SOB staff seemed to do what their training told them to do... and for that, a huge pat on the back.

good q. if I were to guess I would bet on "after the season"- but long-term use of the Paramount name and licensing on the inside for the next few years until the agreement nears the end. From a tax standpoint cant's trademark items that hold intellectual value be depreciated? I would assume that if that is the case that they will use that time to deplete the value in the trademarked themes and spread the cost of "re-theming" over time. They were able to do that with Gauega Lake in one off-season, but each of these parks is larger... and there are 5 of them. major cost will be signeage of the paramount name. and how will that work with PKI's large sign. There is a lot of "paramount" in that- ie, the design.

Oh, and someone mentioned that there are contruction pictures from the tower and Vortex.... where do you find those at?

Not a Code Guru by any means, but unless the whole law changes I would think that it could be grandfathered in. It all pends on whether the 50' level was "offically closed" or just blocked off and if the old permits were left to expire or renewed. Plus, the use would have never changed. Same with IR... It is still used as food oriented public gathering area... and has never closed completely. If I am not mistaken (and I might be)- but isn't there a service elevator on the south end of the building? I've been up in IR 3 times over the last 2 years for various meetings and I thought I remember passing by one.

Wow, going back to that first picture... there wasn't much to the park then.

: sigh...

woofer.... wasn't the name (for the city) Kings Mills derive from an old powder mill that used to sit on the Kings Island property long before it's construction?

Unfortunately hacking a site is way too easy to do. Which makes me wonder, when these moron militants in the Middle East decide to fire up a new "message" or "video" as they like to do so frequently on a website.... can't some bored teenager figure out a way to redirect those sites to some Arabian Desert Camel site?

Actually, I used to trash SOB any chance I got. My last ride, dare I say was smoother than The Beast... We weren't in the first car either.... I was in the 3rd car, back seat, right side. For what it's worth, the maintenance crew did an outstanding job to help this coaster. my 2 cents.

is Six Flags liquidating all their parks?

i can't believe the Flight Commander spot has been vacant that long. Even though the Euro-Bungee thing is there at the moment.... $8 to jump on a trampolene- uh, yea.... though I did see some suckers willing to do so. Would have been a great spot for the Flyers. Was riding The Racers last week... Can someone verify, are the antique cars still lurking? Must say I'm a bit suprised they didn't make a return in NU.

was at the park on Tuesday.... it you can tell summer is in FULL-BLOOM. Young girls sporting "muffin-tops." for the vocabulary-challenged, a muffin-top is worn usually by a girl.... who really SHOULDN'T be wearing it. Muffin-tops being with tight jeans (or shorts) followed by any type of top (bikini or T) just as long as the area above the belly-button is exposed..... and the belly jiggles over the waistline. Much like a muffin will when you bake it. DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and there were BUNCHES of the yesterday. Keep it up ladies, lookin good.....................

uh, i think KI's days of record-breaking coasters (Beast, Vortex, Bat, SOB) might be at an impasse. When was the last time CF built a record-breaker at a subordinate park?

I rode SOB today for the first time after saying "never again.".... again last year. On these boards I usually have taken every opportunity to trash SOB.... but that won't happen this time. I didn't want to ride it, but the two daughters of some friends we went to the park with wanted to ride and didn't want to go alone. So i figured well, I got the crap beat out of me before, I can take it again. I told the girls father as we departed from the station, "just for the record, this was a bad idea." Now, to be fair after the first drop my cell phone rattled out of my pocket and I spent the balance of the ride focused on smashing my foot against the phone and the train floor as to not donate it to PKI's burial grounds of departed rides in the backlot... but it was..... dare I say smooth. And as far as coaster pain tolerance is concerned, I'm pretty much a wus. And I walked off thinking, "heck, I could do that again." When I got off the train I made sure to "log" what train and position... 2nd train, 3rd car, 3rd row. CONGRATS to the maintenance crew for SOB. I still think the layout is lame and 1st grader dreaming could have designed a better track. But, it was a great ride today!

what's wrong with The Beast?

I think others have eluded to it, but the Kings Island Resort is kind of a dive. My wife and I stayed there about a year or two ago and it didn't score too high on the cleanliness factor for my taste. There is an Amerisuites on Mason-Montgomery Rd that we have stayed at a time or two. The cost is real reasonable, the rooms are great, and they have a free hot breakfast in the morning (easily a $20-30 value for a family of 5). You might check with the location to see if they have any park packages / transportation.

someone made a post in another thread that made sense. I doubt it would happen, but made good sense. If CF continued Paramount Parks as a wholy owned subsidiary of CF. Then kept references of Paramount to those parks for creative licensing and royalty income for advertising movies in "their" parks in addition to use of the intellectual property of Paramount's name. intriguing. Not likely, but intriguing.

i didn't flip through all of the comments on this thread so maybe someone else already mentioned it... so sorry if it has. CF may look to extend the Nick license to all parks for a prolonged period of time. Before this acquisition as large as CF was prior they did not have access to any of the modern, popular childrens "likings." Warner Bros characters rights were exclusively to certain parks, ect.... this is probably their first real opportunity to introduce a modern-day children's theme to their parks. I agree with some of the posts I've read.... I bet they extend the license and take it to all the CF parks.