Outdoor Man

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).

if i'm not mistaken Opryland was losing money because the market they were in didn't support it. Their attendance figures were paltry. The are an enourmous entertainment empire that is much larger than the Nashville scene. Anyway, it is intriguing. I think they would be good for atmosphere, as would Busch... the Dollywood people.... let's pray they don't buy- but they would be good for the "good ole country shows".... no offense to Ms. parton... but I can't handle Blue Grass music. My wife and I visited Dollywood once, and it was the longest day of my life.

Gaylord.... that is an interesting thought. They would be a good fit for the Paramount Park system. What area of the Park do you think they would focus on? ie- entertainment, thrill, etc... I know that more money would be invested in to the grounds crew (actually Busch would do that too). That's an intriguing thought.... they've got the capital to do it.

it does usually carry a line. I think though a re-theme is in order. uh... ooooh, how about Fairly Odd Coaster... Oh, yea- that one's already taken.

corporate decisions don't always make sense. ie- the Flyers..... if you look at their location, there was clearly room for it to remain where it was.... and PLENTY of room for it in other parts of the park (Flight Commander pad, for instance)... it was a Coney Island original and it got unceremoniously shipped out.

OK- FOF problems, TG problems, favorite rides getting removed, etc... This'll put that all into perspective, at least PKI is not suffering this fate: Astroland before: http://www.sixflagshouston.com/photos/Various-Park-Photos Astroland today: http://www.oldastroworld.com/album/index.html 7 months after the last coaster pulled into the station, the park went from lush trees, screaming patrons, and basic life to mud and rubble.... and not because of Hurricanes or earthquakes.... it was corporate decisions.

I didn't say their story was laced with facts. the one guy said that when the weather broke in late Feb/March, he was to start working to develop a walkway to the park but recently found out that plans have changed (whatever that means). I didn't know whether to believe them or not either... but these weren't fat guys, leaning on shovels, eating a danish.... they were mid-40 fourman-types. They weren't talking secretively... just very "matter-of-factly." It doesn't matter to me either way.. indecision did seem to explain why a great coaster was missing numerous levels of TLC for the past 3 years. I just looked at pics of Vortex and TG... you're right; the footprints look very similar... but the topography of the land under TG is unique to that specific location and I don't think could be duplicated economically. But then again, I am not in the coaster, amusement, or engineering business. who knows... just passing along a conversation.

just re-read my post... I'm sorry, my grammar is AWFUL! Need to proof read my crap before posting.

since they took the "over the shoulder" restraints out... it is hands-down the best thrill coaster there! ... uh maybe right up there with The Beast. No, removing it doesn't make sense, but then again removing "Stealth" (one of the first "flying" coasters for a water park didn't either. couple of things. i agree with titanic from earlier. Think about baseball... the Reds, they have those programs printed in BULK and hand out thousands each season. Think of 2000 when they had 2.5 million fans at the park. PKI had 3 million, I know- but when trades were made, those programs were updated the next day. PKI probably prints so many of them that they can take their pick of a number of Printing companies that would jump at the chance to do a print job for them. without knowing for certain, they probably wait until a few days out from major changes to get them printed. Also- speaking of a coaster in trouble. Was in a conversation with some guys on the Great Wolf work site... now this is from some "non-director"-"no-decision-making" guys, so take it for what you will... just relaying what I heard. Top Gun is in trouble. they said prior to this year they were to be working jointly with the park to create a North Entrance to the Park for Lodge (& resort) guests to use. Their thought was that the Top Gun area had a great gathering place because essentially to return to the main part of the park you had to go under the cement tunnel (from the monorail days)... which would make a good entrance, plus the line que area made a good gathering area. The plans (as they said) were to remove the excess line maze for Son of Beast behind the tunnel and make that an entry point. They said that they oriignally wanted re-theme and move Top Gun to another area of the park but the problem that they were dealing with was that TG was created specifically for that spot with the geography, which would make it almost worthless to another park (almost even to PKI). In essesnce they speculated that as to why TG has not received any TLC for a few years... because the park is not sure what to do with it. And now with Paramount Parks up for sale, they have heard that the park has stalled plans for the North entrance for now until they see what ownership is going to do... I guess CBS does not want to ride the expense of moving and re-tracking, and re-theming a ride. Like I said... these are site guys that have no authority.. and probably heard the story themselves from 5 levels down. May not be remotely close to the story... but it at least seemed plausible to me. take it for what you will.

i doubt that at this point paramount parks would be doing ride swapping... especially if they want to sell by mid-summer and there's no guarantee that all the parks will go as one unit.

supplies and materials for NOF this year have probably already been purchased months ago. The Enquirer interview with a PKI rep already made mention of the NOF 4-day run. My question is.... will they be shooting pyrotechnics off the sides of the tower this year? My wife and I saw pictures of that on their ads from years past...... and waited and waited and waited for the "money shot".............. and it never came!

isn't the slide on the wrong side?