bkroz

Tomb Raider!

Or, was amazing! Corkscrew Hill was removed this year and replaced with a new simulator called "Europe in the Air" (a very beautiful, very "Soarin'" like sight-seeing experience) that lacks what Corkscrew Hill was often hated for - its bumpy, rigid, rough movements when it simulated horseback riding, being carried through the air by a Griffin, and others. Though, personally, I preferred Corkscrew Hill.

The ride is their own. Spongebob is a Nickelodeon character, with Nickelodeon being a property owned by VIACOM. VIACOM also owns Paramount Pictures, but they are separate entities (but not nearly as separate as Paramount Pictures and Paramount Parks, which were owned by the "new" VIACOM and CBS, respectively). Much like Scooby Doo, the license for Spongebob is sort of "rented" as I understand it, by the company that produces the 3D movie & simulator mechanism. My understanding is that the company (Cedar Fair) pays for the film through Iwerks (the production company), who in turn pays a piece of their revenue to VIACOM for the use of the Nickelodeon character. Many zoos and Six Flags parks that were never affiliated with Paramount show Spongebob 3D (some, even 4D with bubbles, water, wind, etc). In other words, the existence of Spongebob is not tied to the existence of the Nickelodeon license in the park. Any park can have Spongebob 3D for the right price. It was just really complimentary to the park's Nickelodeon area, and has stayed ever since. The sign was replaced to update the Nickelodeon logo, which was changed late last year. But yeah, the movie plays constantly, all day, every day of the summer. It's old, it's grainy, and I wouldn't be surprised if the projection system hasn't been updated for quite some time. Paramount tended to switch the simulator film out every two or three years. I think this year is Spongebob's eighth? So yeah, it's in need of a tune-up, or replacement (but I don't know what would be a more fun ride for families than Spongebob?)

For a period of a few weeks last season it was 2D, too. There was a piece of paper taped to the sign out front that said "Sorry, this show is in 2D today!" in poorly written handwriting, so I got the idea that it was a problem with a projector more than anything. I don't know.

I think anyone who thought it was going to be a coaster was kidding themselves, and bound for disappointment.

No kidding. And it's possible that Cedar Point's will be Stratosoar, and everyone else's will be Wind Seeker. Likely, even.

What would be a better name? I'll gladly accept Wind Seeker considering it's not an awkward ride name (like a top spin named Top Spin or a Drop Tower named Drop Tower... oh wait), and knowing Cedar Fair's naming history, if they tried to get creative who knows what it might be called... Swing High, or something... Ha!

Hopefully, whether it goes to Coney or Action Zone, the area will get the paver bricks treatment!

Again I say, I think the people who discredit the "Star Flyer" style ride, are people who have not ridden them. It looks like yo-yo swings, sure. But imagine much faster than any set you've been on, swinging you on your side into the wind, 300+ feet in the air. The height alone is thrilling. For those with absolutely no apprehension about heights (how many of those are out there?), it would still be a fun, unique experience, and cheap for the park, if you ask me... A swingset in the local park may not have you screaming your head off, laughing, or feeling like you may vomit. Make it a little taller, a little faster, and a little bigger and you've got Skyhawk... And isn't that fun, unique, and oftentimes thrilling? Yes the idea of "plus-sizing" rides sometimes creates rides that are inherently less-thrilling than their "smaller" counterparts (Top Spins, Frisbees). I just feel like taking yo-yo swings, speeding them up, raising them 300 feet in the air and placing it in a picturesque location can't possibly create a poor ride experience.

And it might never run due to the wind... Especially if it were at a "record-breaking" height of any kind, right? From what I've gathered, the whole advantage to the Wind Seeker is that it can run in "normal wind conditions," which a Star Flyer cannot... And I would assume that the taller you get, the more easily a ride is shut down due to a wind, so imagine a ride so sensitive as we're lead to believe a Star Flyer is...

That's a Funtime StarFlyer. Word on the street is that Cedar Point is getting a Mondial Wind Seeker, which amounts to be basically the same thing, but instead of chains holding the seats, there are metal bars (thus allowing the ride to operate in normal wind conditions, which the StarFlyer cannot, which would be impractical on Lake Erie). It's like a HUSS Top Spin vs. a Zamperla Windshear - same thing, but one is a little "upgraded."

So exciting! And since we've been hearing $2 million - $3 million for the Wind Seeker, it does make sense to put it in as many parks as possible - it may even teach Cedar Fair that a small, unique flat ride can have as much draw as a giant steel coaster.

RCDB has Maverick at $21 million. http://www.rcdb.com/3570.htm

Despite the fact that all we're hearing is that every single Dubai park has been put on hold, concept art was released on the Goddard Group's facebook for Six Flags Dubailand: Kingdom of Thrills. There appears to be a hypercoaster towards the back of the park (which, if you follow the track long enough, appears to have a diving spiral / splashdown mixture from this concept art). There also looks to be a white Dive Machine towards the park's entrance, tucked into a corner with an enormous wooden coaster. There also appears to be a backlot / wharf area similar to the one at Parque Warner Madrid (a former Six Flags Park), a Tomorrowland-esque area, and a very unique Ferris wheel. Also, I see a little area towards the northeast that appears to be a "Golden Kingdom" style area of temples, statues, rocky outcroppings, and even what appears to be a flaming lighthouse at its entrance. Very Islands-of-Adventure-y! Also, at first glance, nothing screams DC Superheroes to me... Anyone else see anything interesting or exciting? Just thought I'd share!

Perhaps the current Sky Tower is being converted - thus the only change to the skyline will be when the "star" (or whatever they might chose to call it) rises.

The biggest detriment to the tower's health would be rust, and as you said, it's kept pretty well maintained in that department... It gets painted as often as most of the park's major rides, after all (except Flight Deck?). I do hope that, next time, they update the color. The blue-green is nice for photos, but I'd like to see how it would look in other hues. Like I said, the real Eiffel Tower has been dark red, yellow, and brown. Never blue, green, or a mixture. I think that Kings Island's tower painted a deep, dark maroon would be quite striking. But would the park go out on a limb and buy hundreds of thousands of gallons of paint, perhaps to be stuck with a color it doesn't like for five years or so? Anyone wanna try some things out in photoshop? SIDE NOTE: Is Flight of Fear painted? I mean, I'm sure it was painted black, right? But is it in the paint rotation at all? Or does it go like, twice as long as other rides? Since it's physical appearance doesn't actually matter, it would be interesting to find out!

I said that I do not know the status of the park's contract, but that if I did, I couldn't say. This poster comes across as many in the past have - they heard something from someone, and they work at the pizza place, so they know everything about the park. I'm not saying I do. Just that, if he does know about a "contract," it's information that shouldn't be shared to the public, because it was clearly told to him in confidence. And of course I said, "most park employees have little knowledge about the inner workings of the park, despite what they may feel." Everyday employees do NOT know about Son of Beast, or private contracts, or corporate matters... How many times have you heard someone on the train talk about how they know what's happening to Son of Beast, or The Crypt? Or the employees who can tell you allll about how Cedar Point bought the park and Diamondback used to be a ride at Cedar Point and they moved it. Or that Vortex is sinking. There are employees who will tell you alllll about how Vortex is sinking. I've heard it too often. So when a worker comes on spouting about a contract for an in-park light show that he heard about while on the job (but also that he quit "a long time ago," when Starlight has been happening for all of four months), it comes across as fishy. And I said time and time again in my posts that it really wasn't about Starlight, because that's not even an awful example of sharing inside information. Just that there are serious circumstances around hearing something as an employee and sharing it publicly, and that being an employee at Kings Island doesn't give you inside information in contracts, ride statuses, construction, etc - would you disagree?

Sigh. Everything I just said was "crap?" GYK, wondering if this should be taken care of by someone else, somewhere else, some other time? Or does the use of logic & reason still stand a chance? Doubtful. Let the Eiffel Tower discussion resume!

First, please calm down. I do not know how privvy you are to this website's terms of service, but you certainly are not encouraged to "shout," curse, or tell a fellow user to "suck on that." I'm saying, if the show proved immensely unpopular (a la the in-park Haunt displays), you better believe it would be removed. Of course, there's nothing controversial about it, so that won't be the case. But if visitor satisfaction starts to fall, and the show's marketability & draw falls below its operational cost, the show won't continue. If it costs more to market the show than the park is making based on its draw, why would they keep it? My point, however lost in translation, was that those people working for the park, nor you working for the park, know the exact inner-workings of any contract that may or may not be in place. And if you did come into understanding of some agreement that is between Kings Island & an outside company through any means (which is possible!), it would be in your best interest, as an employee of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, to keep such information to yourself. There are doubtlessly those who have found information out that does not involve them (information that deals directly with financial & time constraints brought on by Cedar Fair), shared that information in a public setting, and found themselves reprimanded in one way or another. There are users here who are absolutely 100% informed about what Cedar Point will be getting next season. They found out, because they were told directly by the powers that be at Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. If they shared that information with us before the rides official announcement, you can believe that they would not be trusted with such information ever again. If Mr. Kinzel himself approached me and told me about a three year contract for Starlight, or a proposed fix for Son of Beast, it would be my responsibility to keep that information private. And if the man who "produced" (what?) a light show at Kings Island was tinkering with the lights one evening and told you about a contract, it would be wise to remove that information from your memory. Many rides & attractions in Kings Island required outside sources to create them. Do you not think that the lights inside the theaters, Flight of Fear, and The Crypt were installed, programmed, choreographed, etc. by outside sources? But, if Kings Island choses to discontinue their use, they certainly can. They do not need to call anyone, much less terminate any contracts, to take the light fixtures out of Flight of Fear if they should chose to do so. Technifex is a company, for example, who worked very, very closely with Paramount to construct the queue and ride building of Tomb Raider: The Ride. Did they have to be consulted when their work was covered up, removed, edited, torn out, changed, and turned off? I do not know. And if I did, I couldn't say, could I? Starlight Spectacular is a show. If Kings Island chose to discontinue it for the 2011 season, I hardly see a lawsuit being a concern... But this isn't even about Starlight Spectacular. It's my suggestion to you to keep in mind that being a park employee affords you very little knowledge that one couldn't find out publicly. And that which you do learn in private (and that which is inaccessible to the public), needs to stay in private. Believe it or not, it is not typical for large corporations to reveal their inner-workings to sixteen-year-old part-time summer employees, and that includes any private contracts that have been negotiated.

The show wasn't "signed" to any agreement or anything. It's a light show. Christmas lights on display. The park didn't sign a legal contract with itself promising itself that it wouldn't remove its own light show for three seasons... They could take it down today if they wanted. And even if you did hear that it's supposed to last three years (and trust me, most park employees have little knowledge about the inner workings of the park, despite what they may feel), it's like any show - its popularity will be judged, it will be altered each year, and basically it will last as long as its desired by guests and park management. (Here comes a Dippin' Dots guy rant): Sometimes working at the park makes folks feel like they're on a pedestal of knowledge. They'll spew out facts & statistics and tell you what's going to happen to Son of Beast or about Vortex, because they heard that someone heard that someone said something about something, and since the person who told them works for the park, what they said was obviously true and some sort of "inside information!" So then the listener grabs onto that information and flaunts it as if its his or her own, and then adds a few colorful details or makes it a bit more exciting, unaware the the person before him, and the person before that person, did the same thing. In general, Joe Schmo the litter-gitter, Joe Schmo the Dippin' Dots guy, and even Joe Schmo the Diamondback operator who's in his fifth summer, do not know anything about the inside workings of Kings Island, what they have planned, contracts that are in place, or what they're currently undertaking behind-the-scenes. I'm sure that there have been times when a day-to-day operations employee of Kings Island has overheard something official - however, if they were to repeat what they heard to anyone (even fellow employees or super-inquisitive guests, and especially on a public discussion board), they would almost certainly no longer work at Kings Island. The idea of hearing that Starlight Experience will be around for three years isn't even a big deal or a real violator of this Dippin' Dots Law, but it's a good time and place to bring it up before John Everyman working on the scrambler tells you alllll about Son of Beast's demolition.

Maybe it'll be like Drop Zone. Every Paramount Park got one - 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and then all that's left is Kings Dominion... And they finally get one in 2003. I bet that they had simply come to the conclusion that they weren't going to get one!

1964 - • The Blue Streak (John Allen/PTC wooden roller coaster) is added. • The Monorail is removed. • Calypso opens near present day Ice Cream Parlor(May 23) • Final season for Rotor http://timelines.home.insightbb.com/cp_years.htm and http://pointbuzz.com/c/history.aspx Two things jump out... Rotor (how high?!) and the Blue Streak.

You are, of course, talking about a company whose flagship park has built four Timmys in the past ten years (five if you count Shoot-the-Chutes). Not to mention their last Beemer was close to 15 years ago (Mantis), and the fact that they only have TWO Beemers in their lineup (the rest are five Arrows, two more Timmys, one Toboggan, a Schwartz, a Komie, and a Dinn). And that toboggan one is also an Intamin creation...

Absolutely a young woman! Many 60 year olds I know how more vigor and appreciation for life than people my age, if you can believe it! This might even be an example of that, since the two people who are closer to my age did something like this... I wouldn't call that appreciation for life, since you're committing yourself to jail time, public service, & lots of monetary loss by acting in such a way.

They also spell Nissan as Nussan and Altima as Ultima, among another two or three spelling & grammatical errors I picked up... Really awful when this happens, and since only one of the five toll booths is ever staffed, it must've been incredibly terrible for the young woman, who didn't even have anyone to scream to afterwards besides through the phones... Also, for anyone unfamiliar with Geauga Lake's Wildwater Kingdom's parking lot, the would-be robbers clearly didn't have a plan formulated before they started - even a glance at Google Maps would reveal that the only way out of the parking lot is via the way in - you would have to pull in, rob the woman, do a U-turn, and head out in the same direction, leaving plenty of time for noting vehicle plates, color, make & model, etc...