Oldiesmann

We're still in the park. I'll post more when I get home tonight. Sent from my LG G3 using Tapatalk

We stopped by Kentucky Kingdom on the way back from Holiday World. The entire time, the only Kentucky Kingdom billboard I saw was just east of the Santa Claus exit. Meanwhile, there's a Holiday World billboard right outside the entrance to Kentucky Kingdom... Sent from my LG G3 using Tapatalk

I only hope KI will actually maintain the ride if we get something like Voyage to the Iron Reef. KI hasn't had a good history of keeping up with dark rides it seems (at least as far as Scooby and Boo Blasters are concerned - I never rode Phantom Theater so I can't comment on that).

For those who missed it, or those who want to see it again, someone has finally uploaded a video of Dennis Speigel's talk at Coasterstock to YouTube. Enjoy!

Sounds like I may have to make a combined Columbus Zoo/Cirque trip sometime next month...

They were still showing the digitized queue film in there as of earlier today.

I agree that they're still not completely safe even when anchored to the ground, but it certainly helps. I don't know if this one was anchored or not, but sand isn't going to be strong enough to hold one of those down in most cases.

A beach is not the proper place for a bounce house anyway - it should only be used when anchored to the ground (which they usually are when seen at fairs, etc.). Hopefully the kids will make a full recovery.

It was just "Python" when I was there last year.

For those who haven't seen it yet, here's CoasterBob62's video from Coasterstock

Considering the one at KI is an ACE Coaster Landmark and has a bit of history as helping to revive the wood coaster industry, I doubt it's going anywhere. Why Carowinds wants to take out what appears to be a popular ride is beyond me.

My post above was meant to say that the 50,000 number likely includes the people who attended the park for the private events. I definitely agree with the "7 weekends" thing - I'm not sure how they're getting that at all.

That number almost certainly counts the people who attended the private events on the 3 days the park was closed for them... After all, someone paid for those guests to attend the event at the park, so it's technically paid attendance...

I still don't understand how the loan is going to help them get out of debt, but it sounds like the current group has good plans for what needs to be done and such. Hopefully the park will survive.

Last I saw Zypher does have the newer LED lights. Hmmm....I'll have to check it out next time I'm there. Zephyr has had LED lights for a couple years to my knowledge. Same with the carousel for the most part.

It will be interesting to see if the other three are actually available May 30th and what reason they give if any one of them isn't...

Considering they don't even know if they'll be open yet next year...

Even considering what happened last time, it doesn't make much sense to me that they'd ignore a major market. How many people in this area actually know that Kentucky Kingdom is still open?

https://thewilds.columbuszoo.org/ Just saw an ad for this on this site and am thinking of taking a trip up there at some point this summer, especially since it's only a 3-hour drive from here and it's only $20 for a safari tour. Has anyone here ever been there? I've never even heard of it before but it looks pretty cool.

But only if you subscribe to that paper apparently (or at least know someone who subscribes).

2014 was a "smashing success"? Really? Less than 700,000 visitors isn't what I would call a "smashing success" - especially when you have parks like KI drawing millions each season. And only 2 hours from Indy - so is another park that The Kingdom isn't even trying to compete with (because they can't?). Hart is going to have to reach much further than Indy if he expects to meet out-of-state-visitor attendance goals. I may very well stop by there on the way back from Holiwood Nights next weekend just to get whatever coaster credits I can before the park shuts down again.

The ERT and the talk on Saturday afternoon were my favorites. Dennis Speigel is quite a character I do wish they'd done a train tour on Saturday morning instead of Sunday though because I wasn't able to make it Sunday morning and I haven't gotten to do a train tour yet (I never got around to doing it when it was something we could pay for and missed out on the KIC one because I thought

The Chance Giant Wheel looks interesting, but I love the Eli Bridge Ferris Wheels (the model seen at Stricker's Grove and Coney Island among other places). It seems more like the "traditional" Ferris wheel than the Chance ones, despite having much lower capacity.

I remember it having green and yellow fluorescent lights on it at one point.

I heard that it's still not working properly but is still at the carousel. Hopefully the park will get it repaired soon.