Outdoor Man

uh.... what ride is the skycoaster?

have to agree. with an impending sale, CBS isn't likely to allow a large investment to go out. And a new owner... chances are it will be a year or two after the sale that we see something large. HOWEVER, whatever is on the table for 2007 most likely has already been sent to the drawing board and is probably in production. Most of the large announcements come in mid-July and my guess is multi-million $$ investment conversations don't start in May. I was watching the TOP AMUSEMENT PARK show on the Travel Channel (i think) last night.... IJST at PKI got the #2 award for best new steel coaster of 2005. good job for the PKI planners... but it must have been a slow year for coasters because while IJST is good... I would not have placed it at a #2... or #3 for that matter. the post about SOB being hidden... I could not agree more. Outside of the obvious roughness of the ride. The designers i feel did not use the terrain and woods nearly enough in the design. The "atmosphere" of The Beast is partly what makes it a great ride. SOB is about 75-100' above ground most of the time and makes almost no use of the trees or geography. as far as when the next large coaster investment comes.... I'm sorry, but if I were a betting man I would say we're looking at 2009. We'll have a better chance at re-themes of FOF or good flat rides until that time. I am probably wrong, but that's my opinion anyway. and when it does i hope they don't try and find a "record breaker"... just a flat-out innovative ride that has good "WOW" factor.

there is a huge discrepancy between those employees who enjoy what they do and those who it seems their parents TOLD them to "get a job.... and you have to get it here." I live pretty much in a hickville area... and students in this area would be over enthusiastic to work in such an environment.

part of the problem of NU... and I haven't been there yet to see, but the "paramount" in KI announced a large expansion for NU... then announced they were selling the park system. So, it is possible that due to that news funding for NU might have been scaled back... and, again I haven't been there, nor am in the "know" so this might have been the plan all along. problems with the employees goes once step past the supervisors. Too many of the supervisors are college students just a few years ahead of their High School understudies.... and too many of them are concerned with being a "cool" sup than being firm. Employees that break the rules "IN UNIFORM" with lewd behavior need to have their a## hauled to the Adm. building to be wrote up, fined, and fired.

a tough thing about a seasonal park is the turnover that occurs during an "off-season." Parks in florida and much of the southern half of the US being open year-round don't have that problem.... employees durations overlap. It can only be expected that a seasonal park is going to have some rough edges in the early weeks. It would be awful if you paid regular admission for what it appeared opening weekend was though.

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that we need to go through metal detectors to get into an amusement park. Though to be honest, probably should have had them years ago. in 1996 a group of us "singles" went to the park. And some dumba## in our group brought a flippin handgun with him..... and showed us. Some people do some VERY dumba## stuff! I hate the idea of them... but they do serve a purpose.

but wouldn't we have some great camper selections though?

woofer... ActionZone is too far away from a German theme.... Coney Mall I think could undergo a HUGE transformation and buy back into the heritage that got the park there in the first place.

I heard it's that "Couch's Campers" guy that bought Americana. He's going to doze over the new resort and restore the campgrounds, put a mini ferris wheel by the sign, and line the front of the parking lot with campers.... that could just be heresay though

Zodiac went to Australia.... and is who-knows-what since Australia Wonderland went kaput in 2004

Are you serious.... $10 parking? ok, this is going to place a date on me... but I remember $5 parking.... maybe even $3.... and Winterfest was free. Here's a business opp. Buy a field somewhere around Kings Mills. slap down some gravel, charge $5 a car and run a shuttle to PKI and the Beach.

and the FC pad is a great piece of real estate for.... something/anything, but has sat empty or useless for over 10 years.... that's astouding. btw- why did they remove Skylab anyway?

Woofer... from your post on the previous age, I am nearly embarrased to say that you are speaking of "my day" as well. NU got it's "Extreme Makeover" this year... a good and inexpensive project that the new owners could do for next year is to Makeover Coney Mall and heavily theme it to the original Coney Island experience.... sprinkled with the new attractions. As mentioned on many of these posts... the cost of these flats are relatively inexpensive as far as attractions go. It would be a "hoot" if they would re-construct the (help me here) Shooting Star roller Coaster from the old park. It could be a HEAVY theme area... and something that is 100% Cincinnati with no copyright infringements and could transverse between 1000 different owners. fyi--- as a marketing / business development person myself, I have to admit that the new owners, should they be more "local" would do good to pay some attention to some of the ideas that are on this site. Granted, some of the ideas posted on here are pretty outlandish and wouldn't have a snowballs chance in he## of working- but there are a lot of GREAT ideas that are discussed on this board. A KI museum... that's almost a no-brainer; every other park has one. some of the theming discussions.... some of them are down right good and on target... plus 99.9% of the posters on here are creative and after all "fans" of the park.... (some almost to a fault). my opinion.

forgot... street address 12090 Mason-Montgomery Road Zip: 45249

But with Chipotle, to be REAL festive you must come down on Friday, May 5.... Cinco de Mayo.... Then you'll have something! Nearest buffet would be the Golden Corral on Mason Montgomery Road. It is on the Fields Ertel exit. Coming south on I-71, the exit comes on to Mason-Montgomery Rd. Turn left off the exit and go under the interstate, past Fields-Ertel Rd. and I believe it is on the left just past Governors Way.

uh, someone can correct me on this, but SOB repairs are probably being funded by their lawsuit filed against the builders and may not have anything to do with day-to-day operations. But that's just my unqualified thinking.

I've got to agree with PKIVortex.... I think a lot of it is the trains. The Racers are over 30 years old, and by all measures should rattle you to shreds... and it doesn't. When I've ridden it just seems that the trains "BOUNCE" too hard.... even on slow sections.

flying eagles would have been great there. along with the fact that the pad sits a good 10-12 foot higher than the rest of the midway... would have made the flyers seem all the more "thrilling." actually, wasn't Drop Zone originally slated to go there? I seems to be a very high profile spot that has had nothing for an incredible 10+ years. Eurobungee...... that's probably a "pay-to-play" attraction? I bet that puts some $$$ in their pockets......

one would expect that they would make use of the long-neglected Flight Commander pad..... it's too "visible" of an area to be wasted on.... i don't even know what they have there, but it's not a marquee ride. Delerium would have been an interesting ride there.... swinging over both the midway and The Racer track. If I was to guess, whatever is coming for 2007... has already been ordered. Design/Building takes a little while. My guess is 2007 is already spoken for. And if any season gets "jipped" at this point, it would be 2008.

That actually speaks volumes. In some areas I think the park is way over-staffed (and maybe under in some). But for the most part... someone had a post on here last week about the employees seemed like it was August more than Opening Weekend- I don't know for certain what they meant by that, but can just about assume what they were getting at.

wooferbear... question. your opinion, do you think the requirements of employees back when you worked for KI were more rigid than they are today? I have been "on staff" at PKI through their Volunteer program (which, by the way is one of the BEST programs for fund raisers)... but there seems to be a very wide gap between those employees who are great and do a tremendous job. Then there are those who the aforementioned have to cover for. Teenage help, of course will be "teenage" help regardless of the year, but I was just curious if the requirements have changed in your opinion.

no didn't forget... there are actually too many to name. Midwest Theme Park concept.... WinterFest.... Innovative thinking (out-of-the-box) was one of their strong points. They were the innovators in the industry... and I guess to some extent, they eased up and let other entities catch up.

wasn't it only the second park to promote cartoon characters after Disney? Warner Brother's characters and Snoopy didn't show up until later didn't they? Kings Island did a he## of a job with HB back in the day. You're right, they weren't Disney by a long shot, but you look at th eself promotion the park did in the 70's and early 80's... they really rode the Flintstone, Scooby Doo, Smurf popularity to a "T".... even maybe more so then Disney. I remember as a kid, Disney wasn't on many Saturday morning cartoons.... oh, that takes me back... being pasted to the TV 8-12 on Saturday mornings... ABC SchoolHouse Rock (there should be a thread on that)... HB Characters were ALL OVER the Saturday morning cartoons. Too bad Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble have been out of work so long that they have sold out and are doing "muffler" commercials now. so which ownership had the edge? the original KI had a GREAT VISION and they excelled tremendously at it. PKI ownership has capitalized on thrill rides. Honestly I don't think you can compare the ownerships against each other. Their leading had different styles, and they are (and have both been) great! The original built the legacy and put them on the map... The Beast (record holder), The Bat (first of it's kind), Vortex (former record holder)... and PKI has continued the tradition: SOB (a terrible ride, but still a record holder on several fronts and a heavy investment), Drop Zone, FOF (first of it's kind)... and they successfully pull in 3 million annually. The original KI ownership started a great thing... and PKI has kept it rolling.

wooferbear.... did you have the "right-hand of sarcasm" waving on that comment? the comment that I heard 'bout Roy Disney and the consultation was about the land, but also about the characters. about promoting cartoon characters in the park to pull the families. I wish I knew where I heard/saw that... it was on TV within the last year. I don't remember where it was, but I didn't just pull that out of no where. Anyway, what was the original thread about anyway?

we just need to pray that the next owner(s) are of the entertainment/amusement industry and "understand" the nature of all three aspects (Thrill, Entertainment, and Atmosphere) and not just specialize in one of them.... and that likely would not be an "investment group.... headed by"- and I;m not referring to any one specific entity. and to the post above (MikeWhy), it would be intersting to note that Roy Disney (I think that was his name) consulted on the development of Kings Island.... which explains the heavy influence of the original HB characters during the 70's. (and I don't remember where I heard that from).