bkroz

Maybe... But if so, I'd expect them to be priced similar to Cedar Fair's Platinum Pass (in the $150 - 160 range). It does seem like it would need to be that much just to cover the potential soda someone could consume, etc. But after Six Flag's rock-bottom $45 passes that get you into two dozen parks, that might be a hard sell for locals (which has its benefits, to be honest, but alienating that clientele isn't great, either). And if they do offer season passes, will you be able to visit Holiday World for a season or a day at extra cost? Separate legal identity, sure. But don't you think the Koch's are throwing around the name of the family business as they woo soft drink companies and fair board members and the public? To add a day at Holiday World for an extra cost could grow both businesses. But who knows.

Unless you work Monday - Friday, then going on a Saturday would not be a waste of time. I mean, obviously? But if you have the option to not go on Saturday, that seems pretty common sense... Especially with a season pass, you're probably better off to go a few nights a week than all day on a busy Saturday.

It's basically what you could imagine: Weekends will be the most crowded, especially as true summer draws near in June and July. As far as week days, Friday is bound to be the busiest, especially come four or five when kids get out of school and parents get out of work. This may not really have an impact, but I always keep in the back of my mind that if a family plans a three day weekend, they'll be at the park Monday or Friday, so the more concentrated to the center of the week, the less chance of that happening. The best days to go are weekdays in the summer, and as early or late in the regular season as you can go (in other words, early May, or late in August / early September) when students are still in school and the weather is cooler. That said, everything also depends highly on weather. A misty, cloudy, stormy Saturday may be practically empty compared to a sunny, cloudless Thursday in the same week. All in all, Kings Island is not usually a "busy" park. It has plenty of rides and attractions to distribute the crowds between. Low capacity rides like Firehawk and Invertigo tend to get long lines early in the day and stay that way all day long, but for the most part you're not talking about any other attractions crossing the 20 - 30 minute mark on wait times during a typical weekday. Just watch for special events on the calendar (like the yearly Christian music event, the political events, special guests, etc) and use common sense (don't waste your time going on a Saturday in July) and you'll be fine.

Drop zone (n.): an area into which paratroopers, soldiers, or suppliers are landed from an aircraft for a military operation. Abbreviation: DZ. But really, that's one of the few "new" names I won't concede to. Invertigo is a Vekoma Invertigo. Drop Tower is a Drop Tower. While we're at it, Top Gun ought to have been named Suspended Coaster. It's just silly, and to me, remains a testament to the lack of vision at Cedar Fair [of old]. I absolutely refuse to consider that a group of people came together in a room and truly decided that the best alternative to the name "Top Gun: The Jet Coaster" was "Flight Deck." It's just not possible. And in fact, I imagine that there was no group of people together in a room. Someone just placed the order for a new sign coming up with the most generic replacement they could think of. Drop Tower is no different. And in my (flawed and biased) opinion, it does matter. Drop Zone: Stunt Tower had torches, a dramatic and chaotic logo lording over the plaza, etc. Drop Tower removed the torches (why?), replaced the once-powerful logo with a cartoonish, dropping "o," etc. It's little things, but somehow I truly think it matters. It has nothing to do with the movie, in my opinion. I'd guess that most people polled wouldn't know a movie called Drop Zone ever existed, much less connect it to the ride at their local amusement park. End rant.

Prior to 1999, that area did have a jungle theme. Congo Falls is what remains of it, and Adventure Express was annexed to the Oktoberfest section when the Paramount Action Zone debuted. The problem is, that would require new identities for Flight Deck, Drop Zone, Delirium, Thunder Alley, and Invertigo (and Son of Beast?), plus substantial landscape changes. Just adding enough pre-grown trees to justify a jungle theme would seem way out of budget, especially when that money could be spent elsewhere. You're right that a scorpion and jungle river right next to each other would make sense, though...

That's the slogan for Stinger at Dorney Park, not Invertigo at Kings Island. Probably 90% of the patrons of Dorney Park won't even known it's an old ride from a park in California, and those who do won't care much about the slogan since it was called "Invertigo" from its opening day at Paramount's Great America. Only Kings Island's was called "FACE/OFF." Invertigo opens at Paramount's Great Amerca (1998) -----> moved to Dorney Park / repainted / renamed Stinger (2012) FACE/OFF opens at Paramount's Kings Island (1999) -----> renamed Invertigo (2008) ------> repainted (2012) I wouldn't be surprised if they renamed our Invertigo to Stinger, as well. All it would take is one additional sign being made. The park map is already being changed anyway to reflect the new colors, so a new label would be simple. Then, just like that, the ride would have an all-new identity. Wouldn't necessarily match Action Zone, but I don't think that's a priority (or at least, it wasn't under the old regime).

I know. I'm saying I prefer the photoshopped image that made it appear more blue-green track and violet supports. The reality is light blue and dark blue, which I find far less compelling based on imagines like: By the way, Dorney Park's slogan for their new Stinger? "Scream your Face Off." http://www.dorneypark.com/

Agreed that I wouldn't mind if they just touched up the red. The blue-on-blue seems awkward to me. Even if the supports were more purple it would look good, but just based off of pictures of the completed Stinger, it looks off.

The "wrong braking style" thing has been conjecture for many of us. There are people here who actually know how that ride worked (as evidenced above). I am not one of them. As DeLorean Rider said, this Giant Top Spin was basically used as a moving theater for the first part of its life. It was just a vehicle that allowed an audience to view show scenes from positions other "theater-style" systems couldn't have allowed (looking up, hanging straight down, lifting in front of the goddess, etc) but that seems to have gone against the very purpose of Top Spins. When more flips were added later in its life as Tomb Raider (NOT when it became The Crypt), it balanced those "show scene stops" with greater thrill, too, and the result seems to have been so counterintuitive from the ride's mechanics that it just failed. Many of us (myself included) have suggested that Cedar Fair should have replaced the Giant Top Spin with a Suspended one and have it repeat the cycle intended for Tomb Raider. DeLorean Rider's post seems to imply that even that wouldn't do any good - it's just the wrong system for that style of experience. Very interesting and it seems 100% correct.

It's our Crypt alright, and a picture of a prototype. Ours was the only Giant Top Spin ever made, and obviously for good reason. By the way, HUSS continues to offer Giant Top Spins on their products website. They've got moxy, I'll give 'em that! http://www.hussrides.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=168

Whenever I see that picture, I think the exact same thing. Seeing it operate outdoors (especially to visitors standing on ground level) would've been really truly amazing.

I'd like to think that that may have been part of the "mystery" by maintaining a closed ride until opening day, but if they let people into the line it sounds more like a technical problem... Something the ride would be all too used to in later years.

I think it looks good like that! I think I'd almost prefer that to the supports turning blue, too.

There is really nothing wrong with drinking responsibly, so her holding a beer is hardly something that she ought to be ashamed of. Drinking does not mean one is drunk. And her screaming "There are kids here" was probably more in response to the man's violent outbursts and foul language than in reply to his having consumed alcohol. The drunk man is obviously at fault. Has anyone here placed blame on anyone else? Disney's response was likely stifled by the agitated man requiring more restraint than was probably originally imagined, but it's clear enough that some form of extra personnel had arrived in time to pepper spray him. Also remember that Disney has "plain clothes" security guards stationed all over the parks. The attempt to hide them is poor at best, as most are dressed in the "plain clothes" of the 1980s and have the clear, spiraled cord between their ear and shirt collar. It's unclear if any of them had arrived at the scene and were helping to subdue the man. A three minute response time is certainly not ideal, but consider that cast members probably did not alert security right off The Bat, probably having been trained to refuse entry to passengers in certain conditions. It could be a case of escalating tempers and then a very sudden reaction. The situation wasn't ideal and it wasn't handled ideally. I don't doubt that systems will be in place by park open tomorrow. Most oddly: http://losangeles.cb...-at-disneyland/ I again wonder how thankful she'll be if one of them turns around and sues for a pre-existing injury brought to the forefront when they elected to help.

Not every drunk? Come on, Terp. In today's PC world, I'm sure you meant to say "Inebriated American."

^^ And for as much as Disneyland is meant to represent youth and imagination and fantasy, California Adventure was build to combine all the best aspects of California's history and present. For some, California's wine country is an attraction unto itself, and thus it was made into an attraction unto itself at California Adventure. Likewise, you can buy domestic beers at Paradise Pier. The same principle applies at Disney World, where The Magic Kingdom doesn't sell alcohol, but Epcot does. After all, its World Showcase area invites guests to experience nations from around the world, and in much of the world, alcoholic beverages play a large roll in cultural celebrations and day-to-day life. Just because one fellow can't control himself doesn't mean alcohol should be banned at California Adventure (though a principle like that was in place at Kings Island).

It's like a car crash. You just can't look away, right? There's an almost dystopian scene playing in my head where a screaming belligerent man is sprayed and wrangled by a neatly dressed Disney security guard, and everyone simply carries on down the road, walking past it without a glance... Yes the onlookers were annoying and less-than-helpful in that regard, but... Wait, what are we getting at here? Ideally people would move out of the way... But come on.

Helped how? Do you think officials at the Walt Disney Company would've asked its patrons to step in and restrain the man? Better yet, how do you think they'd respond when one of those "helpful" guests got clobbered in the mouth and sued the resort for letting the obviously drunk man stumble around private property in the first place?

She has a point, though! I remember those early photos of Disneyland in the 50's and 60's, patrons dressed to the nines for a day of family fun. Who'd have thought we'd get to this point? Families passing by did hear the things that man was shouting, probably smelled the pepper spray, and might've stopped to take in what they thought was one of Disney's regular crowd-drawing "streetmosphere" spectacles. Guess what their kids will remember when they think of their Disneyland vacation? She wouldn't have had much luck getting through to an enraged, drunk man, but she was saying what I was thinking. Another question: do you think the man came with family or friends? Or did he just decide to spend a lovely day at Disney California Adventure teasing the nectar of the Napa vines and the spirits of the west by himself?

WARNING: Video contains profane, offensive language! See also, http://www.swrnn.com/2012/02/20/alleged-drunken-man-taken-down-at-tower-of-terror/ This is Disneyland's Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure Park (which sells alcohol, unlike Disneyland Park). I imagine the situation arose when a cast member denied the obviously inebriated man access to the attraction (as, of course, the cast member is legally required to). It's a shame this could happen and be a defining moment of someone's trip to such a "magical" place. The security was there. Normal seasonal employees certainly don't carry pepper spray. The problem is getting enforcement there swiftly, and with all cast members busy restraining the guy and crowds blocking the situation from being accessed by people who needed to get there. And my God, what if the man had taken down one of the park patrons who stepped in to restrain him? What will happen to the bellhops who retaliated? Did they do the "right thing" in the Disney handbook? What about lawsuits from a patron who was injured trying to intercede? There's a lot of questions here...

Right. And I'm saying "if it were done" depends on a lot of things. Cost, in many of our minds, is very, very prohibitive. So much so that it may not be worth talking about. Really, nothing can be done on our end. Our best bet may indeed be to sit back, shut up, and wait for something to be announced (or not). Something will be done to Son of Beast. Period. Five years from now, it won't still be standing the way that it is now. Of that, I feel fairly confident.

So like I said before if it was completely overhauled and given the IRon Horse treatment. You don't think it would be worth it? Have you seen the Texas Giant reviews? And think of the layout changes they could make with it! Where the loop was could be a double up into an overbanked turn. They could even add some of those tunnels that Giant got with the lights. I personally think it would be the best ride in the park if it were done. And yes I'd take the Iron Horse treatment over a new coaster any day! Your assumption is that Cedar Fair would pay tens of millions of dollars to have that done, and further, that Rocky Mountain Coasters would agree to do it at all. Remember that if the tallest, fastest wooden coaster on Earth (which has already been proven to have a weak structure, especially to suddenly support steel track) had another incident of nearly any size, RMC could and probably would be sued alongside Cedar Fair. We're talking a migraine that leads to lost work time... Personally, I think that the Iron Horse treatment would indeed create a world class ride that would be one of the biggest comeback stories in the industry. That doesn't mean the price would be worth it. You're talking about a hefty investment for a big experiment, whereas the same amount of money could possibly demolish and remove the ride and bring in a guaranteed success clone from another park. I have no doubt that every opportunity is being looked at and analyzed. The option that makes the best sense for the best price will be chosen.

I think you might have mistaken Matt Ouimet with Cynthia Harris and Paul Pressler, I mean, Matt refurbished a lot of older attractions, oversaw the 50th anniversary, and fixed a lot of the maintenance problems caused by Harris and Pressler like chipping paint, and burnt out bulbs. I know it was those two. I said Matt Ouimet followed after them. Pressler and Harris were the executives I mentioned who Disney fans would happily give to Cedar Fair.

The people who were in charge of Disneyland Resort during the turn of the century are no longer in charge there. They've moved on and up. It was Mr. Ouimet who followed after them and began the process of turning around what had been done there - shortened hours, reduced lighting, deemphasis on entertainment, reduced commitment to detail, the decline of ride maintenance... And of course, record profits. And why a bread factory? California Adventure was notorious for having only two "E-ticket" attractions when it opened. Among the medium sized attractions featured in the park's lineup were a bread factory tour and a tortilla factory tour. That sort of became a meme of the new park, expressing just how limited it was. It's great to have one (and the tortilla factory tour is still a fun afternoon activity). But to market it as a full-fledged attraction just stood as a testament to the park's lineup in 2001.

1) Introduce three of my best friends and my mother to Disneyland Resort this May. 2) Not cry during World of Color, but bait my friends into crying. 3) Take plenty of photos of us, not rides. 4) Not stress out about wait times, closures, or prices, but simply enjoy the short time I have with the people who mean so much to me.