RailRider

Then we could have our own Dubailand... How exciting. Do you think we could set up a Caste System to go along. Wouldnt that be fun

Well they have 2 months to complete track construction before that Thanksgiving deadline. At the rate they have been moving, I think they are on pace.

But why not get it done before winter strikes? Seems safer for the workers and gives more time to work the bugs out of the system before opening day.

Did I mention that refils on soda were extra? At $3 a pop, I figured they would be free. Nope. Interesting, either another way to make money or its just cultural.

Everyone that loves FoF, myself included. Do you ever have the urge to windex the giant mirror surrounding the spaceship? I do everytime I ride. Maybe Im just a neat freak.

You might be an KIC addict if your mom blocks KIC on your computer, instead of porn sites... hahaha, no seriously no more action for today.

And this is reason #1 that I still say the park needs to charge a seperate admission....most of those type of people are season pass holder who come night after night just to try to be the "cool guys" Many of which would not spend $30 a night to come to the park. Seasson pass holders??? Really, wow I for one am and absolutely love FearFest, err HH. How about the parents that use the park to babysit their kids for the night? Or any other group. You have no idea who the "cool guys" are...

And filled with massive airtime. Although the return is not quite like AC at BGE the floater or bunny hops look very similar. Thats a good sign friends.

The Paramount days can be identified as somewhat themed attraction and then the theme was not kept up. Also Paramount is key in the loss of environment in some areas of the park. TR:TR (Crypt) going in Rivertown? Tiques and Eagles making way for IJ:ST (BLSC), Adventure Village is no more and becomes Concrete Zone errr Action Zone, and the park usually offered only 1 to 2 shows a seasson. Im not saying Paramount was all bad, but they contributed a lot to what you feel now as the park loosing some of its magic. I just feel that CF doesn't want KI to be CP South, after all it didn't work for GL. They know they have a family park that needs a nice combination of Thrill and Family rides. I would look for 2010 and 2011 to be the years of family attractions at the park. With next year mainly devoted to DB, maybee and new eatery, and show as well.

Heres something else to put this in to size terms. The 7th hill on DB will more than likely be taller than the lift on Racer!!!

I cant agree with your last line any more than Kings Island does have to recapture that magic. Agreed very much so. I find that the park did an excelent job of trying to do so this year. As a mater of fact I think thats where this park is headed under Cedar Fair. Now I do have some things in your post I strongly disagree with, but I wont get in to that. I must ask was it only 5 years ago that you were in the park last before your most recent visit? Paramount/Viacom bought the park in 92 and we saw the changes start in the 93 seasson. The reasson I bring this up is because over the next few years Paramount began corporate tie ins here and there and by the late 90's and early 00's the park was a ghast image of its former self and atmosphere. Thats why I ask if it were only 2002/2003 as your last visit than I believe you would have seen a vast improvement in the park and the atmosphere. So yes the park has drastically changed over the years and is it for the better or worse, thats your opinion. I personally feel that KI made a huge comeback this year and was almost a throwback to its former days. I look for the future to lead the park to be family oriented as it is, but also with some amazing rides for thrill seekers. Diamondback and Firehawk are geared for that. Lastly I see the old days of HB coming back and I can only hope and pray that some day a giant wheel is added to Coney Mall and that the Festhaus returns to its former glory. Fingers are crossed but I have faith.

Hill #7 must be very close to cresting at 100'. Thats not shabby at all. If I were to guess I would say roughly 90' and then #8 cresting around 70' - 75'. Its hard to get a good estimate because of the angle of the cam.

Thanks. Nice little bunny hop huh?

Look at all the airtime goodness on this return hill, this is the 8th hill correct. Can you imagine if this is a small hill what 1 and 2 will look like when done?

2 things. Yes Marineland was open, but I had a short time to visit and no interest to pay $40 bucks to ride a long arrow multi looper that has taken 20 years to theme. When planning the trip I was hoping that Waldameer would still be open weekends this late in the year so that I could get a few laps on Ravine Flyer, sadly the park is closed for the seasson already. Wishful thinking on my part I guess. Secondly I have been through the cave of the winds, when I was much younger, around 8 or 9. The only part I remember is that we had to get up against the wall because a lady committed suicide by going over the falls and a paramedic team came through to recover the body. Thats all I remember of my first trip to Niagara before this last one. So I decided to pass, just thinking chances of that happening while you were down there was crazy, didnt want to experience it again. The Parks are beautiful

Rather than visit FearFest opening weekend, the family and I decided to take a quick weekend getaway to Niagara Falls. We left after work Friday night and drove to Erie PA to spend the night. Saturday morning we had a quick 2 hour drive, crossed the border in to Canada and checked in to the Marriott FallsView. Pictures Below The Marriott FallsView checked us in at 11:00 in the morning, I was completely shocked they checked us in so early, because check in was not until 3:00. I booked a standard FallsView room with a sitting area and fireplace. The view was amazing, absolutely amazing. Honestly didn't need to leave the room for a better view of the Canadian and American falls. Excelent hotel and would recomend to everyone and anyone. We headed down to the falls, and I got the always coveted In-cline Railway Credit. Pretty cool little contraption to get you down the cliff rather than hike down and with the baby stroller it was much welcomed. Niagara Falls is absolutely amazing, the sheer size of the Horseshoe (Canadian) falls is amazing. The height the water drops is taller than any coaster at KI except for SoB and Diamondback. Think of the 2nd drop and Diamondback and you are pretty close to how tall the Canadian Falls are. Amazing. The roar of the falls and the mist created is incredible and when you walk towards the edge it is somewhat unnerving, but truely a sight to behold. After viewing both falls we unwound a little bit at the FallsView Park. A beautiful park not only in landscaping, but also the view of the American Falls is great. Zoe really enjoyed the park and just running around and smelling the numerous flowers. After our bit of solitude we made the treak down to the edge of the Niagara River, where we boarded the famous Maid of the Mist for our up close and personal view of the awesomeness that is Niagara. We doned our ponchos and away we went, first getting up close and personal with the American Falls and then churning our way in to the heart of the HorseShoe. The power of the water coming over edge and crashing at the bottom was amazing and somewhat unsettling because of our proximity to the energy and power of the falls. Truly the Maid of the Mist should not be missed by anyone that visits the Falls area. Worth every penny and more... We bid farwell to Canada and the Falls Sunday morning in a light drizzel. No complaints because we had perfect weather they day before. I will say I was very glad to make it back through customs and in to the US. A few interesting observations about Niagara and Canada. There are so many taxes it is insane, prices are already crazy because its a tourist area, but there are 3 different taxes that you pay on purchases. The service outside of the Marriott left a lot to be desired. Forget the hospitality and efficient service you receive in the States, something that I just think is a cultural difference. Ohh and did I mention the prices??? Still we had an amazing weekend getaway and if you have never been to Niagara Falls you must make the trip. As always I have pictures below, so turn up you speakers and hit the play button. Enjoy

Aren't you supposed to be in school? Study Hall???

I think, Cornstalkers and Worksite are both better than The Cemetery. Cornstalkers is in a new location in Action Zone this year which will also be some what themed to the Wasteland concept again.

Here are some of the highlights from the article on The State. The park owes at least $343 million and has between $100 million and $500 million in assets, according to court filings. Slightly used B&M anyone? The park owes hundreds of millions to bondholders and more than $7 million to vendors for goods and services, such as merchandise Good luck buying a tshirt next year, if there is a next year. The park has used a $15 million line of credit for operating expenses from Deutsche Bank that was supposed to last four years Wow way to spread that out over the 4 year period. Max it out. The problem: Hard Rock generated less than $20 million in ticket sales this season. Heres a rough estimate on their attendance figure. Figure a ticket is somewhere between $40 to $50 depending on type bought. Nice range for attendance is somewhere between 400,000 to 500,000 visitors. Nice attendance for a smaller park, but for a brand new park that was counting on 30,000 guests a day? If you look at the months July and August with what they expected to average per day, we are looking at somewhere around 1.8 million guests over 2 months. They didnt even pull half of that for the entire opperating seasson... The park had about 1,200 employees as of Wednesday, but plans to cut down to 75 in the off-season, according to court documents. Several employees said they had been paid in full for their work, but the park said in documents it still owes about $50,000 in wages as well as up to $170,000 in untaken vacation days. Atleast it sounds like they are paying their employees, but I would be shocked to see it last. So far this season eight mechanics liens totaling $1.76 million were filed. About $460,000 of those liens had been paid before Wednesday’s bankruptcy filing The largest lien, $964,609, was filed by Premier Rides That will make it hard down the road to add any future attractions. Overall from what I see, if HRP makes it through chapter 11 and reopens next year, I think it will be very hard for them to do business. There are going to be a lot of manufacturers and vendors that have a bad taste in their month over this and the industry isn't that big. So HRP will have a bad reputation and their past history is definately going to be a big negative. Not holding my breat

Well the press release said 230' and its 230', the length stayed the same, the only thing I know of is that the original press release stated the drop would be 85 degrees where it ended up being 75 degrees. I still think that is a typo from day one because that is almost a dive coaster. Maverick changed because the heartline rolls made the coaster too intense and violent. Thats something that was installed, tried first hand and then the park and the builder realized it wasn't going to work out.

Like I said, early work seems encouraging...enough not to bother with angles for now. Now the "193 foot 2nd drop"...I still need more convincing. If you look at the artwork, that support column currently up by The Crypt that seems so high has TWO other supports higher than it!! I still need more proof with this one... Ok, heres some more convincing for the skeptical. If you look at the Webcam the 2nd hill is currently higher than the Crypt, which stands 80'. Agreed? Now look at the renderings and compare to the Webcam, clearly they are only halfway done on the 2nd hill and there are 2 more supports to be added before they can crown the 2nd hill. So if we can agree that the current track installed is roughly 90' to 100' and we are half way that puts the total height of the 2nd hill at 180' to 200'. Within the range of 193' and then you factor in the down side of the hill drops in to the Ravine. I think you are trying way to hard to make something out of nothing.

Those pics from Helbig are insane. And the first drop looks very steep to me, now where did I put that protractor of mine

Great shot from the cam, a beautiful cluster of unfinished hills. Can been seen in person tomorrow.

I think that if you are working HH and are a member of KIC you should post a picture of yourself in character and what haunt you are working. Just a thought

If you weld the structure you have bumps, errrr Double Loop at GL... There is a reasson CF didn't relocate that mess, could you imagine trying to relocate a coaster that has it track welded to the supports?