Oldiesmann

Sad and strange news out of Gatlinburg tonight: https://www.wate.com/news/gatlinburg-woman-jumped-from-anakeesta-chair-lift/

The park has now decided to close the ride for good: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/danish-amusement-park-scraps-ride-girl-killed-86879114 RCDB says this was the only one of this particular model. It'll be interesting to see if the company faces a lawsuit over this at all

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/police-14-year-girl-dies-denmark-amusement-park-86812505 The article says the coaster is 82 feet tall and has a top speed of 44mph. RCDB on the other hand says it's about 69 feet tall with a top speed of about 40mph: https://rcdb.com/4021.htm

I rode it when I visited Hershey in 2018. I thought it was fun, but unfortunately haven't been back to Hershey since then and won't have time to make it back out there before it closes.

If you're a fan of Hersheypark's classic Wildcat wooden coaster, you've got until the end of the month to ride it... https://www.facebook.com/Hersheypark/photos/a.165822924356/10160195150919357

I'm still interested in seeing what happens during Balloon Glow on Sunday. No rides to help spread out the crowds this year, so I'm sure many will just stick around the pool all day instead. I'm not planning to go this year because of the lack of non-water activities prior to the balloons lighting up, but I'm wondering if they will regret not having rides or if this will just add fuel to the "people only come for the pool" stupidity

I see two big things with the park that could have played a part in this decision - they have no room for expansion and the parking lots in the area are shared with Levi's Stadium (home of the San Francisco 49ers), so they have to close when the 49ers have a home game (and possibly whenever there's another event at the stadium). There may not be much that CF can do with the park, and that's prime real estate there.

I own a piece of CP 150th anniversary gear - a hoodie that I got for $20 in October of 2020. The only KI 50th Anniversary thing I've bought so far is a blanket for $48, which is far more than I typically spend in a year at the park. I may buy a shirt or two later though.

WCPO just said there were no reports of shots fired, despite someone claiming there was a gun. If Coney decides to attempt this again, they need to make sure CPD and/or the Hamilton County Sheriff are there to provide extra security to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that the park was pretty busy, but everything got shut down at 10:30 because of safety issues.

GOCC has an event there at the end of July. I'm sure some people here will be there.

How? They just announced it yesterday.

No injuries reported and no word on how the fire started. The zoo has two Chance CP Huntington locomotives (one used for the train and an extra) so this probably won't cause the ride to close but it will be interesting to find out what happened.

You would have loved working at Beastie in 2005, when they raised the minimum height from 36 to 40 inches. All of the "my kid rode it last year so they should be able to ride it this year too" people...

Also a 28% increase in in-park per capita spending. Very good news. Hopefully the rest of the season is good for the chain as well.

While it looks like a good concept, I have to wonder how many people would want to visit an amusement park in southwestern Arizona in the summer. Wikipedia says average highs out there are 90 or above between May and October.

This just happened a couple days ago... Should be interesting to see the full details of this.

NebulaZ looks like fun but Zamperla's website says the theoretical hourly capacity is 360, so I doubt KI would go for something like that. Slingshot's capacity was terrible as well but at least it was an upcharge so the lines weren't that crazy. For unique flat rides, maybe a Chance Aviator would work.

Apparently it is possible for rides to get stuck upside down: https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/kennywood-aero-360-still-closed-stuck-upside-down/

Glad they finally decided to put that area to good use again. I wonder what they'll do with it during Haunt since they usually have CornStalkers back there (and a family-friendly area during the day).

Yeah, he's been gone for several years. I've heard his job prevents him from being able to post here (that's what someone said here a few years ago and I'm pretty sure I heard someone say that at an event one time as well). I did meet him in person on closing day at KI one time years ago though.

I'm more interested to see how things go for Balloon Glow this year. I've attended that event numerous times over the years, and it's always one of Coney's busiest days. The rides being gone will theoretically give them more room for people to place chairs, blankets, etc. for the big fireworks show at the end of the night, but at the same time, the rides always drew big crowds during the event and gave people something to do besides the pool.

As a certain member (who hasn't been active here in several years) would say, yes, someone has seen it (those who have been here a while will get the reference )

There is definitely more to this than we're being made aware of, but the blasting and repainting was clearly done with the intention that the ride would reopen this year.

My reaction to this echoes what I've seen from a lot of people on Facebook - the pricing is ridiculous. The views from the restaurant are nice, but not too many families are going to spend $300+ for dessert and a unique view of the fireworks.