Oldiesmann

Racer is only down by 1 vote now, behind Lightning Racer.

Didn't realize that they had mentioned anything about painting Racer recently. I'm glad they answered my question though. Hopefully they'll find the funds and other things necessary to repaint that ride in the future.

Two of the things that really stood out to me were the BankAmericard Service Center and the NorthAmerican Van Lines storage center. When you shopped at KI, you could have your purchases sent to the front of the park, free of charge, and pick them up on the way out of the park. The storage center offered a place for you to check items that you brought with you but didn't want to carry around with you all day (coats, sweaters, umbrellas, etc.). Both were provided free of charge.

After reading over the 1972 Park Guide last week, I thought this would be an interesting discussion. Do you think that the KI of 1972, with its attention to detail, themed areas, etc., would survive in 2010? I haven't really decided yet. I would love to visit a park with all the charm that KI had in 1972, but at the same time, some things obviously wouldn't survive.

If you liked those photos, I highly recommend digging up a copy of the 1972 book Goodbye, Coney Island, Goodbye by Paul Ilynski, which is sort of a tribute to the park. It has some nicely done black-and-white and sepia-toned photos and reminiscent text of the days gone by. My dad has a copy of it and I never get tired of looking at it. Although the book is out of print, it's still fairly easy to find on the web.

Updated poll stats: KI's Racer is now in 2nd place, 11 votes behind Hersheypark's Lightning Racer.

Thanks for the link. I voted. Racer at KI is currently winning by 9 votes over The Racer at Kennywood

Not sure why nobody posted these yet, but here are Sunday's...

It would definitely be interesting to ride The Beast the way it originally was. I can at least say that I rode it when it had skid breaks, though I don't remember what it was like then (I didn't have a pass back then so I was lucky if I got to KI more than once a year at that point).

That's the way it was when I worked there back in 2005 - only select rides and sections of the park participated in M&S Day. The other areas were blocked off entirely, and opened at 5pm. At the time though I don't even think the park was open to those not participating in M&S Day until 5pm.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=388599016948

You might be a KI addict if you... Hang out on KI's Facebook page for hours waiting for the latest 5 @ 5 questions to be posted so you can be the first to post them here and talk about them

Finally had a chance to get down there today. Definitely looks like roller coaster track to me. If you're planning to check this out, here's my recommended route: I-75 South or I-71 South to I-471 South Take Exit 2 (US-27, Fort Thomas/Southgate) Turn right off the exit ramp and get in the far left lane Turn left onto Moock Road Follow Moock Road until it dead-ends at Licking Pike Turn left onto Licking Pike The crane yard is about a mile and a half down on the right. If you live near the southern half of I-275, you can take I-275 to Exit 77 and head north from there.

As a former ride op, I actually don't see an issue with KI's method of counting people. It's not that difficult to click a clicker or press a button, and writing down the numbers only takes a few seconds as well. Turnstiles do have their places - the train is a great example. Can you imagine trying to count all those people each time? I'm not sure what the actual "capacity" of the train is, but I'm guessing it's well over 100 people per ride, especially if you count the kids that ride on their parents' laps.

Why on earth would you try to lessen the crowds on a ride? Especially when that ride is likely the biggest reason many people visit that park? Doesn't make any sense to me, especially when you can pay $10 for unlimited rides on just about everything else in the park.

Did a little searching and found a photo of the sign from the 1981 park brochure... Original location: http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=1&linkid=7014 This brochure also brags that The Beast could hold 40 riders per train at the time ()

I've got Gold, only because I don't have an easy way to get to Cedar Point and I live 4 1/2 hours away from it. If I lived around Columbus or so (about halfway between KI and CP), I'd likely choose Platinum.

This will help Sea World's bottom line simply because they get to take all those donations off their taxes next year. The guests purchasing the tickets also get to choose which group the donation goes to, which makes them feel good. It will encourage more families to go, which means more people in the park spending money (though I've never been to a Sea World, so I have no clue how it compares to a park like KI or CP).

One would think that inspection of the cable would be part of the daily maintenance routines, regardless of what the manufacturer recommends...

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=79&article=55337 Also reported via AP, but this article is a bit more detailed than the AP's version. Didn't even know that Scripps owned the rights to Snoopy until now. This is particularly interesting as EW Scripps is based in Cincinnati.

More info on Hanson for those who don't wish to have "MMMBop" stuck in their heads: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanson_(band)

Whoops! Could have sworn that wasn't there when I posted. Oh well.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=387655381948

Outdated images: Back Lot Stunt Coaster - shows the cars with their lovely Mini theme Character Carousel - taken back when it was still HB Carousel, apparently during the short-lived Winterfest revival Other: The "On the map" thing for Shake Rattle & Roll doesn't actually show where that ride is, though it is centered on the proper section of the park.

There are a lot of industrial businesses in that area. Steel Plant Road is so named due to the steel plant at the end of it. That company apparently manufactures electrically-welded steel pipes and similar products (see http://www.tmk-group.com/tmk-ipsco_wilder.php for more info). The steel plant is down in the valley, so the coaster track wouldn't be at that plant.