RailRider

Also the diversions during the off-season are interesting.

The hostility and drama of the off season. Almost seems like folks go through the 5 stages of loss and grief every year the turnstiles are locked for the season. 1. Denial & Isolation 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance Right now folks seem to be in either Denial & Isolation and some have moved on to Anger. I love the off season.

As I have said before and will say again. Location, Location, Location. HRP failed mainly because of Location and Price. KK failed once and I am doubting their future success. Ironic the though of relocating a ride or rides from a park that failed to a newish park that has failed and is more than likely to fail again. There is a reason that new theme parks aren't appearing every year and no if you build it they will not always come.

Location, Location, Location The reason so many parks fail...

When we were there last year, River Battle was open. Why I don't know? But it was the only water ride open. And you are right Terpy it is an incredible event, that rivals most parks special events out there. And there is nothing better than enjoying a warm loaf of cinnamon bread from the mill while walking around and taking everything in and enjoying the shows. We will be attending the last week of the event this year and are taking 2 families with us who have never been. I cannot wait.

And the event at Dollywood is far and above anything KI ever offered during WinterFest. Especially the entertainment level. Also the grandparent demographic is one that Dollywood excels in. The capital needed to put on an event similar to Dollywoods is far greater than I would imagine they would want to invest.

What I imagine for Action Zone this upcoming season would be midway refurbs running from The Bat over to Banshee and up to the entrance of the Action Zone. This area will receive the most love and attention this year. Next year 2015 I would expect the rest of AZ to receive a similar refurb and some possible name adjustments and possibly a new name for AZ. I wouldn't expect the park to take on everything this year, but more of a phased plan over the next few years.

I just don't see Winterfest coming back any time soon. Besides the previous reasons already mentioned the park has much more competition for your holiday entertainment dollar. Both Cincinnati and Columbus Zoo's offer great well established holiday events that are competitively priced and it you are wanting the theme park holiday event experience Dollywood and the Smokey Mountain Christmas are only a few hours away and KI can only begin to offer a fraction of the experience that DW does with their numerous shows, amazing lights, and yes a good number of their rides are open. Also with what I would imagine the admission price would be set at, a family of 4 could enjoy a night at Great Wolf Lodge during the holiday season and enjoy the lights, decorations, and waterpark.

Amazing how much development went in to the creation of the Suspended coaster but it never took off. But there have been and are some very good suspended models out there.

Tough to see in the fog, but a thing of beauty...

Glad to see Action Zone is getting love with Banshee, just like Coney got love with WindSeeker and Rivertown with Diamondback. I like the trend we have seen and I am excited to see the love The Bad will be receiving.

There are many record breakers that are nothing more than a record breaker and the ride experience is meeehhhh. See Kingda Ka and SoB, While there are many coasters that do not break any records yet offer amazing rides. See ThunderHead, Titan(SFoT), Raptor, and the list goes on.

Exactly what I was thinking TB. I wonder what park is getting a front gate redo. Carowinds?

So close to the first inversion being finished and it is glorious...

Which is a better fate than sitting in a field in Thorntown Indiana and rusting away...

I thought it was painted rust color? No? That is the only color I remember it being at Camden

First inversion is huge!

The storage area is nice and flat compared to the valley, making loading and unloading much easier. Plus the valley is littered with Banshee footers.

Well written and nicely done. How sad is it that what came of Beastly Kingdom has now been bulldozed at IOA for Potter? I will say I am more excited about the night time show, the extended hours, and the 7 Dwarfs Mine train than I am about Avatar. That being said I believe it will be a nice addition to a park that has been too small since it opened.

Some thoughts. They wouldn't do all of that work just to do it. That is a lot of work that has be done for nothing more than cleanup. Why clean/refurbish an area guests haven't seen or had access to in years? When you paint a room, you remove all of the furniture and cover the hard stuff to move. Getting ready for paint? Could they be installing a new general public line and FastLane underneath?

We can debate the Avatar as a movie franchise and brand until we are blue in the face. Let us remember that when AK was originally build the original concept called for a phase 2 expansion that was to be a mythical land of dragons and unicorns. For still questionable reasons that never happened. Now Disney is finally doing the phase 2 expansion, yet it is branded, which is great marketing. Now if this new expansion would have been announced with concept artwork as some mythical non branded land, how would you feel? The concept artwork and descriptions that have been released and sound and look amazing. I look at this as a great expansion for the park that is much needed and that will change how folks visit AK

Like Terpy said, No. The state regulator, which is the Texas Department of Insurance, main concern is that the rides are inspected and insured.

The other interesting fact about this case is that the park conducted their own internal accident investigation. There were no outside parties brought in on this investigation rather an inhouse review of what happened. http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20130720-investigation-of-texas-giant-accident-to-be-led-by-six-flags.ece

Six better hope all of their maintenance and service logs have every i dotted and t crossed if they are going with this argument.

Yes I have heard very similar rumors and also including the inclusion of Muppets in to the new land as well. With the popularity of Star Wars Weekends and the ownership of the Star Wars brand now, this makes more sense then ever. Disney would hit a major home run with the expansion of New Fantasyland, Avatar, and then Star Wars to go along with the numerous resort expansions, and Downtown Disney retheme. The World may looks vastly different in the coming years.