bkroz

No kidding. GYK, wondering if Shoot the Rapids been paid for yet...?

^^ Well when a company demonstrates incredible reliability time after time, it's an easy sell - you can have an Intamin launching Wing coaster that will break constantly if it manages to open at all (the best indicator of future behavior is the past, after all), an S&S Arrow 4th Dimension coaster that may not open for the first few seasons, or you can "take a chance" with B&M, whose rides are notoriously easy to maintain, reliable, comfortable, and smooth. B&M, after all, is in the business of perfecting designs. Even the duo's origin (working for Intamin) is proof of that - for better or worse, they let others do the innovation, then they optimize and improve. Imagine a B&M gigacoaster - as fast, as smooth, and as forceful as Intimidator 305, but with wide open cars, flawless reliability, and a throughput like you wouldn't believe. If they tried it, they would doubtlessly succeed and teach Intamin and thing or two about how forceful (in a good way) a gigacoaster can be. Reputations mean a lot in this and any industry - good or bad. B&M has earned a good one, and thus, have some slack in which they can try new things and invent without damaging their reputation.

When visiting Wildwater Kingdom this summer, my friend forgot his pass and was told he could get one free replacement, and then would have to buy the replacement card if he forgot it again. We then found out it was bring-a-friend-for-free day, however, so we never went through with the "one free replacement" offer, so I can't speak to whether or not it was really a policy. And even if it was, that was Geauga Lake. This is Kings Island. If there's one thing we've learned of season passes and Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, it's that you're not guaranteed much of anything unless you're willing to fight for it.

I have seen the vice president and general manager, Greg Scheid, out and about in the park multiple times. Coincidentally, it's usually around Backlot Stunt Coaster, behind the Eiffel Tower. It's great, because they're approachable and (though I have never spoken to any of them) I imagine they'd be more than happy to stop and listen to all you have to say. Maybe not Holiday World friendly, but still pretty personable. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone in the park wants to hear about Son of Beast or The Crypt, and that's really about all I talk about when you get down to it.

Wow... To both the discussion happening here and the article posted. As far as the article, it's awful that this happens, but it does. Something I found humorous is that it said "Two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old girl." The sixteen year old's gender is specified, but the gender of the two 17-year-olds, listed first, is not. Are we to assume that, because this is a story about stealing, we should automatically assume it's males? If it were three girls, it would say so. But it was two 17-year-olds and a 16-year-old girl. The fact that a girl is stealing is note-worthy, while it's so expected that the other two are males, they need not even specify. P.S. "Please do not correct me"? "That is the way I do it"? It's really sort of telling that you're communicating in a way that is making your message unclear, but would rather continue to do so and be "right" rather than to have to change in favor of a clear discussion. Would you rather be "right," or make sense? I suppose we found out...

Well, sounds perfectly reasonable to me! Some start low, others shoot for the stars...

HA! Wikipedia? Articles like this one sometimes make me think it would be better to delete the entire website... Especially with people misconstruing information about one of my favorite rides... But then again, who reads the Wikipedia page for The Crypt at Kings Island in Ohio?

Or dies by it, depending on your take on the ride's name and its current status as a thrill ride...

If a machine can be a truck one day and a Ring of Fire the next, I avoid it. I don't like it when a ride can pass me on the highway...

I can see that. After all, it's a closed structure, with ceilings and floors and walls. If Son of Beast were disassembled and put back together as a building, it probably would not contain enough wood to build such a structure. The exterior, perhaps, but to have a complete interior? Doubtful.

For what it's worth, before my intervention, my friends were convinced that Kings Island was a "kiddie park." That's apparently the thought that people in Northeast Ohio have... At least, some of them.

Well, do the other things I said have any kind of merit or semi-correctness?

Wooden track suspended two-hundred + feet in the air? The giant rose-bowls? It's the second longest wooden coaster on Earth, and its track is raised to a much greater height than the first-longest in the world... Think just of the wood supporting the "pre-drop" before the big hill. Perhaps it's not thee largest, but it's certainly in the top five. After all, I don't know of many 20 story wooden buildings. Or wooden bridges that use so many feet of wood... The only thing that I can think of that would even be in the running for large wooden structures would be roller coasters, and I can't think of many that top Son of Beast in terms of sheer numbers. That's a lot of wood no matter which way you slice it...

Remember, though, that was have no figures for the demolition and removal of Son of Beast, either... Son of Beast is within 15 feet of two other coasters, requiring a VERY controlled demolition much like a skyscraper in a city. It must must must fall a certain way at a certain speed with explosives / demolition crews in very specific locations so as not to compromise any nearby rides. Then, once you've got piles of treated, un-recyclable wood and nails, who do you call? where does it go? what can you do with it? Assuming it must be carted off to a landfill somewhere (as it cannot be burned due to the chemicals it's treated with) how many trucks must come? how much gas? how many man-hours? where, oh where, does it go? Son of Beast is without question the largest wooden structure in the world. Who would be willing to step in and try to demolish it? Who would be willing to do the (expensive) research required on how to remove a wooden structure so large? Nothing of that caliber has been done before, after all... Not saying demolition would be more expensive than any particular fix, just that it's something to think about. They cannot simply click the delete button. You know how on Roller Coaster Tycoon you can build a pathway for $12 and when you delete it, you only get $6 back? That's because the "removal" costs $6... So if demolition would approach $8 million, and installing the Iron Horse track & reinforcing the structure with steel would cost $13 million... Well, that's called a "dilemma," kids, and something that would be on the table and discussed more than once, I bet. Another thing to consider: Kings Island's general manager said that three manufacturing firms had been contacted about Son of Beast. One had returned an idea that was insufficient (read, "too expensive") and the other two were still deliberating. Mr. Scheid also said that the ride's removal had not been discussed as an option. Take that for what it's worth.

Double post!

Yes. A HUSS Top Spin is a staple at most theme parks, and you've doubtlessly seen one in action. Ours, though is the world's only Giant Top Spin - it holds a dozen or so more people, and is about double as high - a maximum height of 80 feet. The manufacturer, the ride's enormous size, and a few years of extreme wear-and-tear beyond the ride's original intention has caused it to run a program that only flips twice, and is quite tame compared to smaller, more aerodynamic, acrobatic Top Spins. However, you absolutely should ride it. As I said, it's over pretty quickly, but the queue line is worth the wait alone! The ride used to be themed to the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and it still shows. Even in the ride chamber, you'll see a gigantic goddess on the wall, and a volcano underneath the ride as you flip backwards. It's not overly thrilling, but it is intense, and it's a fun ride! Give it a chance!

Compare Kings Island to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. Would you really claim that both are "amusement parks" devoid of theme? Is one less themed than the other? But both are just straight up amusement parks? It is not black-or-white. It's a spectrum. Some of the Paramount Parks and some of the Cedar Fair parks lie mostly on the themed side of the spectrum (however low on that side) while others are on the high end of the amusement park side. And in response to tggrr, Epcot is a theme park in Walt Disney World that was conceived as two parks in one. EPCOT was Walt Disney's idea. The two are completely unrelated. But yes, back to Arrow, who revolutionized the industry with their many multi-loopers, found a niche in the mine train (with one of theirs at most every major amusement park in America at one point or another), designed the much-beloved, much-imitated, never-reproduced suspeneded coaster and, in 1959, built the first steel tubular-tracked roller coaster for that same Mr. Walt Disney...

Is Disney's Hollywood Studios a theme park? And yet it's areas are Echo Lake, Hollywood Blvd., Mickey Avenue... What about Epcot? It is not the idea of "World Showcase" that makes Epcot a theme park, it's the themed pavilions and attractions. I wager than you can't rightly have one without the other, and that theme is nowadays misconstrued as being the same as product tie-in, but still...

Kings Island is a theme park. It has themed areas. It has themed rides. The designers who opened the park in 1972 would be shocked and ashamed that you do not consider it a theme park. Action Zone? Oktoberfest? Rivertown? Planet Snoopy? Boomerang Bay? Is it light? Sure. But it's there. Even in Backlot Stunt Coaster, The Crypt, Flight of Fear, The Beast... These rides are better themed than any Cedar Point has to offer, and it has actual themed areas.

But again one must remember that Cedar Point is dealing with about 10% season passholders. Of the other 90%, a fair amount is comprised of travelers who probably are not from Ohio, and probably take a "Cedar Point" vacation the way many take a "Disney World" vacation - one where you've saved up and expect high prices that you'll pay anyway. Kings Island's attendance, meanwhile, is significantly made up of season passholders, and many who are not season passholders are locals, or from the tri-state area. For them, Kings Island isn't necessarily a destination that they plan six months in advance, and so when they come, they do not buy the expensive food the way people from Oregon visiting Cedar Point might...

And we need not even mention Big Bad Wolf, which was in my opinion (and the opinion of many) one of the best family coasters in the United States. The swinging ride design was absolutely perfect for the ride and its near-misses with a Bavarian village, and it had a finale that was to die for! It will be very missed...

The suspended coaster was probably one of Arrow's greatest successes. Was it a "trend" coaster, the same as stand-ups or inverts? Sure. But it takes a lot of popularity to make it that point! And consider that many manufacturers are still today trying to come up with a follow-up for the suspended coaster, but can't seem to create a design with such charm and versatility.

You're so right! It is "Out of the Darkness!" You can sample three songs from that CD, and all three sound very familiar. For anyone who wants to listen: http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/buymusic.htm#cd8

I don't know if this is what they use in The Crypt, but I know Universal Orlando always uses Midnight Syndicate work for their Halloween Horror Nights event. They make awesome mood music. It's genuinely creepy and has that "distant, mysterious" sound that's very reminiscent of old-time horror movies. I never knew that that's what they used in The Crypt, but if you heard some Crypt music at Universal, then it must be, since Midnight Syndicate is pretty much all that they use! I encourage you to browse their site and look for the Crypt's music. Doubtlessly, Kings Island bought just one of their CDs and has it play on repeat in the queue, so if you find which one you can enlighten us all and get your answer! http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/ Happy h(a)unting! EDIT: Browsing their site, I did find that Kings Island and Cedar Point are both registered attractions that use Midnight Syndicate music! Very cool. To be honest, I might even contact Guest Relations with an email. I don't see why they wouldn't tell you which CD it is, and there's no way to sample songs on their site. So if you really want to get your hands on Universal's song, email them and ask which CD it's from.

This Dick Kinzel is the same one who has kept "his" parks in technological darkness; the laughing-stock of the amusement park world that is, today, using fingerprint scanners for entry. The same Dick Kinzel who commented on "his" parks' lack of theme compared to industry standards by saying that roller coasters are now and will continue to be the theme of "his" parks. And yes, the same Dick Kinzel who said, as soon as the Apollo deal fell, that he was "honored and excited by the opportunity to continue to manage and operate Cedar Fair as a public company..." Is it any surprise that this same Dick Kinzel openly picks favorites among "his" parks, and misunderstands the way that his information will travel? How do we, as Kings Island fans, feel upon hearing his words about Cedar Point? Does he know that we are aware that he said this? Does he care?