Oldiesmann

A while back (don't remember when), I had a dream where KI took my season pass from me because I was throwing rocks at people. Now, why I was throwing rocks at people is another story. I wish I could tell you, but that's all I remember of the dream - and the fact that I was thoroughly disappointed that my own stupidity had resulted in a loss of something that was so much fun to me.

It doesn't surprise me that he'd be "hopeful" that a deal could be reached. Re-opening the park means more jobs, another attraction to draw tourists to the state, more tax dollars and more money for the state since it sits on state-owned land.

It needs to be more dramatic, like the ending of "MacArthur Park" :

Full version of the article, with more pictures: http://www.nj.com/monmouth/index.ssf/2012/11/keansburg_amusement_park_vows_to_rebuild_after_hurricane_sandy_destruction.html

I highly doubt someone displaying this level of "intelligence" (if you can call it that) can afford a section of coaster track:

According to a Southern California news site, Coast Rider is one of three new attractions debuting next year as Knotts expands its boardwalk: http://blog.pe.com/theme-parks/2012/11/01/knotts-berry-farm-park-announces-boardwalk-expansion-for-2013/

As is mentioned somewhere else on this forum, the pond at The Beast was actually removed when the exit was reworked to make it ADA compliant/handicapped accessible. The old exit is now (at least partly) the Fast Lane entrance and was an emergency exit for years prior to that. I don't know where it originally let out, but I'm sure others here can give info on that.

The antique cars and beautiful landscaping that surrounded them.

This same article also says Son of Beast was the longest wooden coaster when it debuted...

Will miss this ride, but I can't say I'm surprised that the final decision was to remove it. It hasn't operated in 3 years and it just wasn't the same after the loop was removed. Will be quite interesting to see what they do with that area in the coming years. I don't expect anything new in that area for 2013, but it will give them a lot of room to work with.

A response from someone on someone else's question as to whether or not KI was going to add a new ride for 2013:

There was an article in the Kentucky Enquirer about that last year it seems (see http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110604/NEWS0103/106050325/Ludlow-Lagoon-area-may-new-life - unfortunately you have to pay to view the full article), but I have no idea whatever happened to those plans.

I can't figure out why anyone would think this rumor was true. There's already a Wal-Mart just 11 miles from Camden Park which is much closer to I-64. Why would Wal-Mart want another store so close - especially one in the middle of a residential area that's 6 miles from the freeway?

Other than the clubhouse (which is at 312 Lake Street: http://goo.gl/maps/BgIBn), not much is left. According to the Kenton County Library, most of the land the park originally occupied is now a residential neighborhood, and the rest of the low-lying areas were filled in in the late 60s: http://www.kentonlibrary.org/genealogy/history/ludlow/article.cfm?ID=101

The video accompanying the story on Channel 5's website does include the general manager of the park saying that they're going to make the improvements others have mentioned here. http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/news-warren-county/Beach-Waterpark-to-reopen-under-new-name-management/-/13602148/15701846/-/10ahqbu/-/index.html Over a million dollars in improvements, 4 new slides, a new kids' area and a new wave pool. Seems really ambitious to me, but, knowing The Beach, this could simply mean an overhaul of some key attractions with new names (like what they did with the previous "new" kids area recently).

As far as the burritos go, those, along with the cheesesteaks, are one of the "most food for your money" items - you get a lot of food for a relatively reasonable price (still expensive, but about what you'd pay for something similar at Chipotle or a similar place).

If you read the articles I linked to, you will find the answers to your first questions.

It seems they usually team up with the celebrities. See http://orlando.about.com/od/disney/ig/celebrityphotos/ and also http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/category/celebrity-visits/

The problem wasn't so much his appearance as the fact that he was drawing crowds and accepting requests for autographs.

I highly recommend the burritos

First there was the costume incident, and now this... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/thomas-tolbert-disney-world_n_1699135.html The report from WKMG can be found here: http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Disney-wants-man-to-be-less-Santa-ish/-/1637132/15676164/-/b55c5tz/-/index.html

Official press release from The Beach's website:

Good news for fans of The Beach... http://www.fox19.com/story/19111547/company-to-lease-the-beach-in-2013 A bit more info is at the link above. Will be interesting to see where things go from here.

"Africa" is indeed a great song. I'd also settle for "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears For Fears.

I'm 89.90% to level 2. I haven't been to KI since late June though due to the heat. May go this week if it cools off some.