bkroz

does it matter? Yes, actually. I got it all set up because I thought it was now. Then I see 8:15. But I also see 8:30. I don't want to miss it. 8:15 the live feed kicks on with trivia, games, and no doubt a few speeches. Announcement to follow at 8:30.

"66 Days at Sea... What were they leading up to? Find out tonight what happened on day 67." Plymouth? I'm almost as interested to find out the name as I am the ride details.

It was miraculous enough that B&M used the many moving parts necessary to build a flying coaster! There's exactly one launched B&M roller coaster in the world. B&M famously would have nothing to do with its launch mechanism. Someone else took care of that.

What are our last minute guesses? I don't know where to begin. Something that will likely cross over the Voyage and is tied to a marketing campaign built around voyage of the Mayflower. References to flying (which don't necessarily help since most any coaster can produce flying sensations)... $22 million. I'm just stuck! Wing Rider sounds like it, but it could be a diversion. It sure was at Kings Island.

Videos have been removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim from NBCUniversal, Inc. No ride spoilers for NBCyou!

Ironically, the color of the unpainted tower in those photos is actually very close to the real Eiffel Tower's paint job (which has never been teal, light blue, sea foam green, or anything close to it). http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2008/01/24/landmark-color-the-eiffel-towers-true-hues

I don't know about you guys, but when I think of Sally Corp. and their dark rides, I think of the blacklight, 2-D cut-out interactive dark rides like Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle, Boo Blasters, Ghost Blasters, Gobbler Getaway, and Reese's Xtreme Cup Challenge. It's true that Sally rides have a very distinct style, but in my research for my Theme Park Tourist articles, I happened across a really unique ride at Terra Mítica (formerly managed by Paramount Parks) that really turns it up a notch. El Laberinto del Minotauro is a Sally Corp dark ride that uses full sets, complete animatronics, and trackless ride vehicles that can rotate during the ride. It's also interactive with laser guns, just like Boo Blasters. Not only is the ride awesome for having trackless vehicles and basically being Disney-quality in terms of its sets and special effects. It's also got a really cool twist. Taking advantage of the trackless technology, riders must work together to score enough points, or they're ejected from the ride!! You can see two ejection tracks on the layout map above. Only cars that successfully score enough to stay in the maze make it to the finale encounter with the Minotaur himself (which is achieved thanks to six separate 12-foot tall animatronics)! Another view of the ride including the queue and loading area: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkbJ4JxkegM As a dark ride fan, I think this one has been added to my bucket list. What a way to make interactivity part of the story and setting rather than distracting from it! Whaddaya say Kings Island? How about an incredible Sally dark ride like this? An interactive German castle in Oktoberfest? A haunted mine in Rivertown? This beats screens any day! EDIT: Here is the ride's page on Sally's website, and a great (but old) official video through them:

The single rider line was intended for guests who had no one else in their party that wanted to ride. I guess I didn't realize that was the official purpose of the Single Rider line at Kings Island. At Disney Parks, many groups enter the Single Rider line and are simply reminded that they will be split up and ride separately. Observationally, most say, "Yeah, we know, thanks!" and, at the ride, their party is split as needed to fill extra seats. I guess I'm so used to that, I don't see anything wrong with it. If Jack and Jill visit the park together, and both want to ride Diamondback, but they don't "need" to ride together, then isn't the Single Rider line a viable option? I guess not. Disney just presents it – officially or unofficially – as a way to wait stand-by for an open single spot, not necessarily that it's purpose is ONLY to serve those who visit alone or want to ride the ride alone. Ah well!

Two people who visit the park together can still use the Single Rider line appropriately...

That's fine! The whole point of the premium experiences that have been popping up at most every major theme park in the U.S. is that not everyone will take part. That's the purpose of providing something premium. And in fact, what you're suggesting is a "premium" experience of your own. Instead of paying a bit extra for an upcharge experience at Kings Island, you want to instead put that money toward a trip to a much larger destination resort. It's all well and good. in fact, the system relies on folks who say, "That's not worth it to me, so I won't do it." If no one felt that way, it wouldn't be a "premium" experience at all, would it? And even if you feel pretty darn sure, things change. It wasn't too long ago that members here were protesting Dinosaurs Alive and promised to never step foot in it because of that insidious upcharge. And remember the many folks here who would never touch Fast Lane with a 50 foot pole? Now we organize days when KICentral specifically goes and purchases Fast Lane Plus. Things have a way of becoming less black-and-white in your mind over time. That, and sometimes you just want a premium experience!

I never said Don was REQUIRED to do anything! He just usually makes a post about things when the speculation starts to run wild. Maybe he wants us to roll with it.

All signs (no pun intended) point to the ride operating again. Flying Eagles operated again, didn't it? Don't mind me, I'm just trying to shake things up.

^ I'm part of the same generation! Rose colored glasses of youth.

Petition. Heh! How many petitions were there for Son of Beast's return? As if a few dozen enthusiast signatures somehow outweigh shareholders, dividends, safety, operations, etc.

Back then, he wasn't an underdog contending with viral social media, expectations of failure, and instant communication, and with the taxpaying citizens of Kentucky on his hind side looking for answers.

I don't know if I'd call that sad necessarily. The website serves a lot of functions, but I'd say the priorities are park hours, ticket prices and purchasing, season pass information, food allergy information, ride lineup, etc. That's not to say that Kings Island's website excels in all of those areas, but that is really what the site is for. Stuff like web cams, live cameras, ride trivia, blogs, and POV videos are fun for folks like us, and the general public that searches through it would enjoy it too. But that The Bat is sometimes shown with gray track instead of orange isn't really a failure or anything. So they haven't taken the time and energy and money to film crystal clear official POV videos and update every attraction detail. *shrug* You win some, you lose some. Now, if the website still referenced The Crypt or Drop Zone or Flight Deck by name, that would be a whole different story... (EDIT: And for a while, the misinformation and many errors on the official website had a whole thread here...) Visit visit Kings Island dot com for more information!

Sometimes conversations evolve naturally. We almost always find our way back to the words in the topic title. Until then, posts begging people to "get back on topic" only add to the chaos. We're flexible here. Welcome.

That's a figure I saw. How many of those acres are publicly accessible? Is that what matters? Do animal exhibits count? Backstage areas? Parking lots? Undeveloped land? That's what I mean that I don't know what exactly "counts." Disney California Adventure is 54 acres, or about 10% as large as Great Adventure. (In comparison, The Beast covers 35 acres!) Is that because Disney only counts public areas? Do they include showbuildings? Backstage? The idea that most of California Adventure could fit within The Beast's footprint seems... not right. Six Flags itself labels Great Adventure as the world's largest theme park... at "510 acres." *shrug* I guess it's a rose-by-any-other-name situation.

Well that just blew away all my preconcieved notions of Kentuckians! Thanks! GYK, the guy who attempted to nonchalantly blame KK's troubles on psychological (EDIT: and cultural) biases that we all possess. Same guy who made the case that those biases made me imagine Kentucky as a place I'd feel unwelcome. At least now I have a presumed-Kentuckian telling me I'm unwelcome! No imagination needed. Having fun footing the bill for Kentucky Kingdom while Mr. Hart and his "PR" team spend your tax dollars into the ground? Hey-oh!

Not that it really matters, I guess, but Six Flags described Worlds of Adventure in press releases as a 750-acre entertainment complex, using 690 acres. Other articles mention that Six Flags Ohio was 520 with SeaWorld being 230, which would again add up to 750 all together, with 60 being the lake. Cedar Fair's press release to announce the acquisition of the park described it as a "family-oriented theme park situated on 690 acres, including a 50-acre spring-fed lake." Great Adventure's spokesperson Kristin Siebeneicher said last year that, when the Safari park was added to the thrill park, their combined acreage would create the largest park currently in the world at 510 acres. Granted, they may own many more... But... In terms the park itself. I don't know what counts and what doesn't. I truly don't know. I had just always understood Worlds of Adventure as the largest. Doesn't really matter anyway, I guess!

Kings Island once had some pretty intense competition! Just in Ohio, the de facto leading Paramount Park was down the highway from a Six Flags park, a SeaWorld park, and Cedar Fair's flagship. That's not to say things were so black and white, but Ohio really was sort of the nation's leader in parks after the year-round states like California and Florida. Now? Well... What was the world's largest Six Flags a decade ago now faces biting competition from lawn sprinklers and Slip'n Slides.

To be fair, Guardian at Wonderland really is sort of a "value" version of Gringotts, what with the coaster intro, the screens, and the trick-track finale. Unfortunately, the incessant need for interactivity distracts from any "dark ride" storytelling. Imagine if Gringotts came equipped with cannons for blasting the bad guys. Would it still be a great ride? Sure. But it's not the same kind of ride anymore. Not at all.

"NEW FOR 2014 - MANTIS WON'T HURT YOUR -----!" Imagine the collective cheer and the irreverent marketing campaign Cedar Fair could come up with.

I think Mantis is intense because of its layout. Certainly standing has its own exhaustive quality, but the layout itself is pretty... shall we say, convoluted? I always compared it to the old coaster-building PC games where you'd try to connect back to the brakes only to find that you're off a square or something, so you add a loop... Then you have to bring it back around so you add a helix. But you need an S-turn to line up to complete the circuit, etc etc. By time you're done, you look back and find you've built... Frankencoaster. Just twists and rolls and bumps and turns and loops. And not even in an attractive and inspired way like Flight of Fear. I don't know a thing about engineering or physics. Doesn't seem to me that changing the train or heartline would have some disastrous result on riders, but I literally have absolutely no idea whatsoever. Really.