bkroz

See the very bottom of this page: Carolina Cyclone really was re-painted three colors, in honor of its 30th anniversary. A few things: This is what our Runaway Reptar looks like, too, right? Very nice! Drop Tower's photo gallery is called "Drop Zone." Well, perhaps it was SpellCheck. :] *Insert Scooby Doo going "Huh?!" Slight "lol" at the semi-visible green phantom here, hiding behind a curtain!

You might say Carowinds is the prodigal son of the Cedar Fair family... In more ways than one.

Carowinds appears to be booting up a sort of Paramount-ish takeoff on the Cedar Point style web-layout... Though it's just now starting up (currently it redirects to the shopping page), http://www.carowinds.com is getting the much-desired makeover. Let's pray that it's in Kings Island's future, too, but since we just recently got an online shop that mirrors our current website style... :\ http://www.carowinds.com And so, the unification of the Paramount Parks begins! (a mere four years post-purchase and just when they might all be sold in the coming months... What good timing!)

My post, if I do recall! You even mentioned my "boarding in the darkness, hearing the waterfalls all around you, as the houselights come up," etc etc. Glad it left an impression, if that is indeed where you got it!

I recall The Beast having been more "ferocious" during the Paramount years (but then again, I was also like, fourteen). And since everyone else had been saying that its been "tamed" in recent years thanks to Cedar Fair's obsession with brakes, so I'm inclined to feel that its slower. And really, I think it is - it feels like it's "coasting" between the brake shed and the second hill, hardly out-of-control like it used to be (or, like how I used to think it was). Of course, back seat at night? Nothing like that, to this day...Now that's out of control.

Cedar Fair looking at short-term investments and not noticing the benefits of long-term care? No!

But the thing we said was, most people use the train only to get to Boomerang Bay, and those who are just looking for a relaxing ride probably wouldn't complain about seeing christmas lights strung everywhere during the day.

Exactly! When your point of reference is trees fifteen feet away from you, you feel like you're going at a moderate pace. But with the dim lighting inside The Beast's helix tunnel, you see pieces of wood absolutely FLYING past you, combined with the roar of the track and the inability to see ahead to brace yourself... It gives you a MUCH closer point of reference and produces the illusion of speed.

This is truly awful, especially because this happened to someone who dedicated their education and life towards caring for and sharing this animal. It's very painful to see this happen to anyone. I guess if we can learn one thing, it's this: No matter how much an animal is personified and given a name and a backstory and a character, it is still an animal, and a wild one at that. People who keep wolves or alligators as pets will learn this in time - instincts are more powerful than all the training in the world. And you have to wonder how long it will be until we see Tweets from "Shamu," who is well-known for his / her jokes and comical images... My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in the SeaWorld family, and the family and friends of this trainer.

Adding a tunnel wouldn't actually increase the speed, just make it seem like its going faster, which might translate to it being "rougher" and more "out of control" in the public opinion.

Darkness increases the illusion of speed... (Space Mountain maxes out at 30 mph, though many recall it as the fastest, scariest ride of their life!) I shudder to think how an increased sense of speed might toy with people's perception on the already-rough Son of Beast.

EDIT: Double post! Sorry.

Or, consider this: Lights throughout the forest, visible from onboard the train. Before / after Boomerang Bay is open, the train can just be a round-trip from the beautiful, twinkling forests of Kings Island, alive with music and more! To an extent, Christmastown at Busch Gardens Europe did this, by playing Christmas songs over the train speakers usually used for narration. It could easily be done on our train, and revive a somewhat... dwindling... piece of Kings Island history. It's a shame that the train is mostly viewed as a means of transportation to Boomerang Bay - it used to be a standalone attraction, and a good one at that! Having a Starlight Experience in the woods would revive the train, and its very high occupancy would be a great way to display it in when, anywhere else, it might be an unwanted eyesore during the day. I personally would want it there or in the Tower Gardens / former Paramount Story. Kings Island is different than Cedar Point, and I can't think of a good place for it to be now that Rivertown isn't as highly shaded as Frontier Trail at Cedar Point... Rivertown is still the most densely foliated, but there would be long strings of lights clearly visible strung up all throughout the day - at Cedar Point, they at least can blend into the tree and canopies during the day.

Haha yes, but I was thinking they could just have "Park closed during early pass processing days" in bold at the top or something...

Agreed! 2011 - Suspended top spin 2012 - Ferris wheel, S&S Screamin' Swing replacing Action Theater or Thunder Alley, GCI Coaster on Son of Beast's former location AKA, 2012 is a grand re-branding of Action Zone! Now if only we could set BLSC down over there... Sigh. Now THAT'S a plan for ya!

Can't help but wonder the point of the "Park Open / Closed" column provided... Does anyone else ever get the "just to fill space" idea from Kings Island's website? Haha!

I forgot to point out that, when answering the question about the map, the answer was that they're finalizing some things, including some details about "an all-new night-time show." New Fireworks? Lights & fountains show? Starlight experience? Big-screen-on-the-midway-show I can't recall the name of like at Cedar Point??

Suspended top spin what?

(emphasis added) I'm not sure about that... Though it may just be unchanged from its previous incarnation, the web-bar when visiting Carowinds official site reads "North and South Carolina's Themed Amusement Park." Kings Dominion's reads "Virginia's Premier Themed Amusement Park." Likewise, Great America is "San Fransisco's Themed Amusement Park." And Canada's Wonderland is "Canada's Premier Themed Amusement Park." Kings Island, however, is "Official Home Page." I think that Cedar Fair officials are probably pretty oblivious to the difference between a theme park and amusement park, but many of their parks are, in fact, themed - with themed areas, themed rides, and themed buildings. Perhaps not as much as they were some four years ago, but all of the former Paramount Parks, Worlds of Fun, and Knott's Berry Farm all have themed areas. If you ask me, it would be incredible naive to say Kings Island, or Knotts, or even Worlds of Fun isn't a theme park. Even if Cedar Fair doesn't directly say it, I believe it's accepted in the industry. As for the confusing "themed amusement park" web-bars? Every theme park is an amusement park. The opposite isn't true... I say their intention was to advertise the parks as theme parks.

Kings Dominion, Carowinds, and Canada's Wonderland made a boo hill out of a mansion... A castle can't be too much harder to transform... Right? *gulp*

Well let's see... Kings Dominion's? Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Carowinds'? Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Canada's Wonderland's? Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Great America's? Kidzville River Adventure. But then again Great America has a Kidzville, which we do not, and theirs is a boat ride, which ours is not. Hopefully you can tell what I think the new SDATHC theme will be...

Bubba inspired Forrest Gump to open a shrimp restaurant in the movie. EDIT: Ah I was beat!! Hahha.

I imagine they wouldn't have referred to it as Outer Hanks if it was becoming Bubba Gump's again... Though it could - Bubba Gump's Shrimp Shack is a nationwide chain of restaurants. The name was just used at Paramount's Kings Island because it was (probably) free and referenced a well-loved movie. Kings Island today could chose to franchise the Bubba Gump's name... What the point would be, I'm not sure?

Though this has been alluded to in other posts, I think it deserves its own topic, with some of our own questions (mine included... you'll never guess which one!) being answered: DAY ONE. Link. In summarization, here are some points of interest: Planet Snoopy information will be posted "in a matter of days." Scooby Doo & The Haunted Castle's retheme will not be Peanuts related (odd, since didn't one of the other park's Boo Blasters on Boo Hill make reference to the Peanuts gang?) Ride Warriors Coaster Weekend will not be returning, but there will be (as was mentioned) an exclusive event of some sort open to KIC. New exterior for Outer Hanks. New Pretzel Shop on International Street. The Crypt will remain unchanged for the (opening of the) 2010 season. A new nighttime show? Fireworks, or something along the lines of Cedar Point's big-screen-on-the-midway show that I can't recall the name of? Or Starlight Experience? Who knows?! This opportunity on their Facebook to ask questions (and they answer five of them each day at 5:00) is really great, so I encourage people to ask away! Though they may not necessarily treasure their official site as they should, it's awesome to see the park reaching out through blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. Many parks still don't offer that sort of thing.

I should hope so, as they probably make up more of the world's theme parks than annual-operation parks. But there must be some caveat to this... It would be expensive, tiresome, and probably futile to visit each and every amusement park, even in the United States... Think of the Indiana Beaches and the Idlewilds that are all around the globe - not heavily marketed, off the beaten path, and not really "worth" the trip unless you're particularly interested in what it has to offer.