Oldiesmann

It's amazing how quickly we got from "it's going to be a B&M" to "it's going to be an Intamin". The fact that Intamin track was spotted on I-71 near Columbus means absolutely nothing. I-71 happens to be a very convenient shortcut for truckers, being one of the few interstate highways that runs northeast-southwest.

Effects? Soundtrack? Where do you think this new attraction is going - Disney? Don't believe me? - Give Backlot Stunt Coaster a try. Heck, if it weren't for the fact tat it NEEDS waterr to make it work, Race For Your Life Charlie Brown would operate dry! BLSC isn't a good example in my opinion. It always has been, at its core, a coaster themed to being a stunt driver on a movie studio backlot. The parts that made it more than "just" that were licensed properties - things from the Italian Job movie and the fact that the cars looked like MINI Coopers, both of which are things that CF would have to pay a hefty price for to keep. They've (wisely) chosen to spend that money other ways.

We can dream can't we?

Yesterday I heard some kids exiting Racer saying that Adventure Express is lame. The ending might be seen as such, but the ride itself is actually quite fun.

It's likely an issue with whoever provides your email service, as I haven't had any problems getting email from them. In fact, the latest one arrived this morning. (If you didn't get it, you aren't missing anything - it was just a reminder that their extended season pass sale ends tonight at midnight).

Someone on Surf Dog this morning referred to the ride as "like the ship, only better". I don't know if they were referring to Viking Fury or Zamperla's "Rockin' Tug" ride, but I thought it was a rather random comment (SD is definitely better than a Rockin' Tug, at least for those who want thrill. I'm not sure how they can say it's "like" Viking Fury though).

Now that you mention it, I believe it was actually Zephyr where I heard that. The guy on Scrambler kept saying the name like "Scrrrrrrambler", which was also quite funny.

From today's trip... According to one ride op, Scrambler is the best ride in Coney Mall "Enjoy the rest of your day here at Kings Island. Home of Vortex. And some other stuff. But mostly Vortex" Apparently they added 7 loops to Diamondback last week.

Sounds like a great deal to me - visit both Ohio parks for a bargain price. Especially a good deal for those in the Columbus area (90 minutes from KI, 150 minutes from CP).

You're welcome. I forgot that the software wouldn't turn that into a link for the mobile version.

Nice pictures! Wish we could fly over the wall and beg for clues from those construction workers! Oh and by the way I saw KI tweet you earlier. cx Thanks. I decided to have some fun with the "through the fence" shots this time around. I was actually surprised by that tweet. I use the mobile app Foursquare to check-in at each ride, and that account gets mentioned everytime someone checks in there (Foursquare is designed to be very appealing to businesses), so I guess he saw that I was checking in all over the park and decided to say hi I've been using Foursquare for years now and this is the first time he's tweeted at me

Sorry about that Terp. I didn't want to post 11 different photos. This link should work for you: KI Construction 5/29

Here are my construction photos from today http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldiesmann/sets/72157633799326426/with/8885405892/

"British ones always break records". Really? That's why an American coaster is still the longest wooden coaster in the world, and an American coaster was the first to have 6 inversions...

And the reason for the "load has to only clear from the front" policy? Safety. By requiring the person to come to the front, there's no chance that the others will misinterpret or misunderstand their signal. It also ensures they don't accidentally end up in the path of the moving train since there's not usually a lot of space between the gates and the track/train. I'm sure the park is well aware of how various policies affect capacity. They have reasons for these policies, even if they don't make sense to the average guest. Their main goal is finding a way to ensure guests are as safe as possible without hindering capacity. Sometimes they may implement additional policies specifically to increase capacity or speed up operations (this is why you can't leave things in the station on Firehawk, why they assign rows on Diamondback [and sometimes other coasters], etc.).

For those wondering how B&M keeps track of everything - the info on the label is likely stored in company databases. The key in this case is the "Job Number". If you had access to the company's records/databases, you would simply look up the job number to find out all you wanted to know - what park, what type of coaster and probably assorted other info that would be useful to those building/making it. By itself, it's absolutely meaningless. We can gather additional info from the part number of course, but again, this is meaningless without knowing the "job" info. It's also possible that the "Customer" info is unique to each customer, but I'd be a bit surprised if that's the case, since their whole goal is to prevent snooping enthusiasts from figuring out the details before the park is ready to announce them

Seems we were right about it being a KIC event...

I'm guessing a KIC event

You all seem to be forgetting that we used to have a green coaster. Two of them in fact. One got repainted and the other one no longer exists...

The fact that the Star Flyer only holds 30 guests makes me glad we didn't get one at KI. A ride with WindSeeker's popularity but only 60% of the capacity would yield to longer lines.

I don't think that will be too hard. They've done a lot to encourage people to return (keeping the popular summer events, lowering admission prices and honoring 2012 passes), so if things on the inside are as good as they sound, people will return.

I certainly hope no park would ever resort to reducing operations to increase sales of skip-the-line passes. I've suffered through 2-train operation on Vortex before and it's definitely not a fun experience.

Remember what I posted above about block locations. If Beast had 4 trains, a delay in the station would cause significant delays (one train in the station plus one on each section of the brake run, and the 4th train would have nowhere to go, resulting in it being stoppped on the 2nd hill...). In a perfect world where every train is dispatched at a constant interval, it might work, but in reality it wouldn't.

"Cotton Eye Joe" still is a regular song on the train.

By my count, Beast should have 6 blocks: Station to brake run outside of the maintenance sheds (before the first lift hill) Maintenance brakes to first lift hill Top of first lift hill to top of 2nd lift hill Top of 2nd lift hill to 1st brake run 1st brake run to 2nd brake run 2nd brake run to station There's enough room outside the station to stack two trains.