MrPKI

Absolutely agree, it is an unenviable situation that parks (and many other businesses) have to be in right now - even more so for a park that just made such a massive investment. The other day my brother asked me if I was aware of any discounts to Dollywood. My impression is Dollywood doesn’t seem to offer all that many during a typical year; they probably don’t need to! But for any park to aggressively promote itself right now feels risky. Social distancing is the expectation and the park needs to assure the public that can be accomplished. Parks may also be uncertain about demand within their market. Enticing people to come through the gates then subsequently having to deny them because of a capacity restriction isn’t a good look.

This is obviously not happy news. But it is understandable given the circumstances. I imagine you are correct that certain members of news media will still be given an opportunity to showcase the ride. As a non-passholder who didn’t sign up for the first rider event, it’s going to be a long wait. Or cave and buy a pass...

As someone who registered for media day, I look forward to helping the park hype Orion. That is assuming enthusiast participation in media day is still desired by the park and can be accomplished under the current conditions. Changes to the format must be necessary not only in order to social distance among the media, but to ensure the desired message is being conveyed. Kings Island somehow has to strike a balance between "we have an amazing new addition that we want you to come ride", and "queuing for our amazing new addition won't look like a SRO concert". The park may still be determining how to best approach this. Hoping to hear a date soon so that I can ensure my schedule is open!

I am bummed about this too. It was to be my first time attending Coaster Con. I have enjoyed the shorter weekend national events the past couple years and was looking forward to the full week experience. Not to mention all but Hershey are new to me. Here's to 2021...and something positive and park-related in summer 2020.

My wife and I were in attendance on Sunday night. We're locals and aren't super into haunt attractions, but we were curious to see how they decorated the park and to try some of the new food options. I was also looking forward to some night rides. Now I wish I had waited until after dark to do T3. Like many, I'm not a big fan, but it's tolerable enough for the occasional lap. It probably is the least lit area of the park. After a stop at Tin Lizzies (which is now has tiki torches!), we started our night at the LaBARatory to try Frank's Monster Burger. We split it, and that was a good plan. It is far too much for one person, but it was tasty. Dr. Frankenstein, himself, will even bus your table and show you the lovely ingredients that went into your meal. Later on, my wife tried the pumpkin spice Dole whip, and I had Orange Moon Rising ice cream from Scoops (Spooks). The Dole whip tasted like 100% pumpkin spice and 0% pineapple. Not to say it was bad, but if you're expecting an interesting flavor juxtaposition, sorry, all pumpkin. The Orange was good. I think those who like fudge (which I could take or leave) would really like it. We didn't end up doing any of the primary haunts, although we did briefly walk through the Bizarre Bazaar and observed the dance party. I was impressed with the level of decor in the areas that had it. I will be interested to see next year if they extend the theme to any other parts of the park.

Bright orange rails: Circa 2009

I don't know this for a fact, but on a recent visit to the park markings and minimal tree clearing were visible behind the picnic area, adjacent to SkyCatcher. This would lead me to believe based on the rendering that the lift would point south towards the airport with the majority of the layout running parallel to and sitting behind the newer section of the waterpark. Again this is conjecture, but it seems like a plausible spot to me with the sort of out and back layout. I am really excited about this addition! I didn't really think they would announce a new coaster (was guessing Sky Roller or Air Race), so it is a surprise. I haven't ridden any of the other smaller Gravity Group wooden coasters, but have often read good things. It seems like a nice intermediate step between Roller Skater and Thunder Run. As a business decision it really does make a lot of sense to me.

If I'm not mistaken Michigan's Adventure expanded Half Pint Paradise this year. Surely it isn't being expanded again...?

Following up on this - I was able to visit Camden Park this past weekend, on the last day of standard operation no less. Schedules came together at the last minute surprising me with a free Saturday, an afternoon at the park, and the opportunity to watch my Alma mater play football against Marshall in the evening. It was a great day! My wife and I arrived at the park around 1pm after a quick stop at Tudor's Biscuit World (huge breakfast sandwiches). I was impressed with the look and feel of the place. For a park with many of its marquee attractions being 30-60 years old, everything looked well kept and clean, and the employees were very friendly. Sure, some rides could use fresh paint, but at the same time it didn't exude a lack of maintenance, at least not to me. In fact, the Big Dipper had a fair amount of new (unpainted) wood. We did notice the sign only read "IG DIPPER". Maybe the "B" needs some cosmetic surgery. Speaking of the Big Dipper, it was a lot of fun. Each car was a different experience. I mentioned above how uncomfortable the stage coach style bouncing on Wolverine Wildcat was. Well, Big Dipper had that too, especially in the front car, but it was not painful here possibly due to the less constrictive restraints. It was a completely different experience of air time than I am used to with many surprise pops. We liked it a lot. The back car gave intense ejector air instead of the bouncing. Car two was a mix of both, which my wife liked best. The other two attraction highlights to me were the Hawnted House and Whip. I haven't ridden a Whip since I was a young child at KI, great fun. The Hawnted House is quite the interesting contraption because it is gravity powered. The scares weren't effective, but that's probably not the point. Its a piece of Americana that you don't see much anymore. We also took rides on the Little Dipper, Slingshot (new spinning coaster), Log Flume, Train, Rattler (frisbee), Sky Lift, Flying Scooters, and Camden Princess (Rockin' Tug). The kids coasters round out the collection nicely, and the Log Flume is also a classic. We enjoyed the scooters too, but I thought the cycle was very short. Other thoughts: There were a lot of families with young children visiting, and it was apparent that the group picnics are a big draw for the park. We liked the gift shop even though we didn't buy anything. It was meticulously organized and they didn't sell a bunch of junk - only Camden branded items and a few plushes from popular cartoons. Given a little more time we would have liked to try the miniature golf course. The theme was very West Virginia and it looked well kept. I've also heard Pronto Pups are not to miss...maybe next time. We did get to try Stewart's Hot Dogs before the football game, however, which was tasty. All told, it was about a three hour visit, but definitely worth the time, and I'm glad to have made it there this year.

Looking forward to catching a live stream as well. I had been hoping to make an announcement day visit since early this season. Unfortunately I have a conflict on the 28th. I too greatly enjoyed the Banshee announcement in person.

Thursday 7/28 at 10pm. https://twitter.com/EvanMillward/status/755421486219988992

Heading south is correct. The building on the left is the Festo warehouse just built in the last couple years.

Thank you, if I do get the chance to visit I will make sure to post about my experience!

I visited Michigan's Adventure for the first time last week, so I'll share my experience. Business travel for my wife provided the opportunity for us to swing by for a few hours. For the enthusiast, Shivering Timbers is the main attraction. One might consider it to be the precursor to The Voyage from a design perspective, however, it is not as aggressive. I found it very enjoyable, and quite photogenic! I was tricked twice into thinking that the ride was over at around 2/3 of the way through the course, a fun surprise! I wish we'd had time for more than two rides. Thunderhawk is tolerable, not much headbanging. Corkscrew rides similarly to Vortex, but I found the two inversions to be smooth. Wolverine Wildcat was a disappointment to me - stagecoach style bouncing at the bottom of the drops made for an uncomfortable experience. We did not get to try Mad Mouse as it was down for technical reasons. The park's big draw is WildWater Adventure, but I found it to be a well-rounded rides wise. Cedar Fair has kept the place in good shape despite [the often-expressed enthusiast complaint] that the park rarely receives new major attractions. I appreciated the central lake setting with swan and bumper boats, mini golf, etc. You don't as often find those types of attractions at the bigger parks. The Funland Farm petting zoo is also a nice homage, if small, to the park's past as Deer Park Funland. As this topic is about Camden Park. I feel obliged to comment that Camden has been at the top of my short list for a while due to both its proximity to me and its history. I enjoyed the blog posts and hope to visit later this season. The weather was not favorable when I desired to visit over Independence Day...

I concede that I have not been able to make any sense of the 1972 lead. Unless it refers to a non-ride (entrance work, etc). Did Don, himself, make that statement? I have only read that hint in this thread (by BoddaH1994) and on the KIC Twitter (presumably also written by him). Thinking about Tower Gardens, I don't believe it was even around in 1972, correct? But there is a stake...