bkroz

Most companies don't make multi-million dollar investments to please enthusiasts and fans of nostalgia. If they did, what a different park it would be! Better in some ways; worse in others.

I do indeed sigh this!

^ I don't understand. But just for the sake of clarity, can we agree that Taco Bell does not have horse meat? Because, it doesn't... Just making sure that's clear to everyone.

There's this, too. Some interesting labels!

^^^ And Six Flags Ohio in Cleveland / SeaWorld Ohio in Cleveland. What a shock those visitors must have been in in the era before MapQuest when it was forty minutes worth of driving through fields and little villages to get to the parks.

A spritz from a Snoopy is different than a number of high-pressure hoses spraying from both sides, if you ask me!

I'll say again that Cedar Point made two terrible decisions in Shoot the Rapids: 1) After the marketing campaign with "White Lightning" whiskey and an established backstory of hillbilly families feuding during your tour of the brewery, many expected something at least along the lines of the Paddlewheel Excursions characters, or a few falling rock effects or something. Instead, the water literally meanders. Even Kings Island's forty year old log flume zooms down the trough. Cedar Point's is painstakingly, almost maddeningly slow, and passes no scenery or effects worth mentioning. 2) As for the "water level" complaint I have, many parks have a log flume (for a light misting), a rapid ride (for a chance at getting drenched) and a splashdown boat (for getting soaked to the bone). Cedar Point has all three models, and all three absolutely assault you with unavoidable water effects. On Shoot The Rapids (which, traditionally, should be the least wet of the three water rides, as a log flume) there are literally - I'll say again, literally - water hoses aimed at riders that spray you from either side. And they're rough, too! Do those water jets look fun to anyone? Not me...

Of the stand-up coasters I've been on, Iron Wolf was by far the worst.

It's absent on the 2004 map (though the lake it was over and its station is still shown, right on the border of the Congo and Waterworks). In 2006, The Italian Job Turbo Coaster opened on that plot of land. But I don't know if Diamond Falls closed just to make room for it. I can't find a map from 2003, so I can't say if it operated then.

BUT, it's not just about the ride restraint coming unlocked during the ride... Part of it is bracing oneself against the sudden acceleration and stops. Water dummies don't have to worry about bruising or breaking bones if they slam against restraints. And as with any situation, you have to plan around the "what if." Why are shoes required on Diamondback? Some say the reason is because, what if the ride broke down and you needed to climb across the metallic grated floors at the brake runs? And why are hands required on Kraken? Maybe because you need to grip a stair handle when you walk down the 150 foot lift hill during an evacuation. You have to plan for the worst case scenario, and that means excluding people who couldn't safely navigate during those worst case scenarios. Water dummies don't have to deal with that, either. Wouldn't discrimination imply intent to selectively remove one specific group from an activity unfairly? Discrimination is the last thing I would call it, and your post reads very inflammatory and over-exaggerated. Most of us would say we feel sorry for the girl and the situation, but to claim SeaWorld instituted a purposefully discriminatory policy? That is ridiculous.

And the article points out that this girl could indeed hold on - she had adapted to grasp things with what she had. Which begs the question, is it appropriate to evaluate if a person meets the requirements on a case-by-case basis? And if so, whose job is it? Should a person need to stop at guest relations as soon as they arrive and have a written document from there? Or should it be up to ride operators to use their best judgement on each individual attraction? Not easy...

Browntggrr hit my thought on the head: I remember saying it back when the woman made the news for not being allowed on Shoot the Rapids due to a missing leg or two missing arms or something... If you have a condition that is truly that seriously, shouldn't your very first instinct at an amusement park be to stop at guest relations and just ask a couple questions? Regardless of how capable you feel you are, you must at least acknowledge that limitations exist, and shouldn't it be obvious to stop at a main office somewhere and ask? At least then, you can "plead your case" (as little help as it may be) and the park can get its ducks in a row and send out a message of their final decision, thus taking at least some of the weight off of the shoulders of ride attendants. It feels like it should be considered ones responsibility to find out the limits before you even begin instead of assuming you can do as much as anyone.

That does make sense though, since the ride itself is actually being reprogrammed to fit the new footage, which would require a lot more testing and adjusting. But you've still got plenty of A+ rides at that resort.

Same people behind Thirteen's "scariest coaster in the world," "free diapers," "nurse on site," "18+ only" as well as the world record for most naked coaster riders, coaster riding squirrels, haunted construction sites, etc. PR stunts are their idea of marketing. You'd think after the mediocre reception of Thirteen, they'd think twice (a ride with stats similar to Backlot Stunt Coaster being called the scariest ride in the world certainly left many people disappointed...) One stage of coaster testing (long before a full circuit test) is a pull-through in which the train is meticulously inched through the course with a large extender that mimics the reach of human limbs. That ensures that there is absolutely no possible chance of collision. The "selling point" of many Wing Rider coasters is the near-misses with scenery and the optical illusions that you're nearing an obstacle. So the crazy PR stunt for Swarm is that - oops - maybe they cut it a little too close! You'll notice every row of the train is filled with the B&M water dummies we know and love, and the front row (the affected one) has store mannequins who aren't even in the shoulder restraints correctly. It's a stunt, and one that would be considered in poor taste in America. I doubt it would've even made it off the drawing board in the U.S., especially this close to Kentucky...

And the Disney fan base is up in arms. Hop over to your favorite Disney message board to read about how this represents the downfall of the company, and the end of the Disney Parks as we know them, and the absolute last straw... I know people tend to hyperbolize about Kings Island and Cedar Fair on their respective fan sites, but it's nothing compared to the fervor that Disney fans have for Disney things. People call it "foaming," and that's a good word choice. People are literally livid about the change. These are the same people, by the way, who believe in multi-million-dollar construction to hide the bland rooftops of California Adventure from riders on the monorail; building to-scale recreations of Indian temples onto the show-building of the Indiana Jones Adventure (which, by the way, is only visible from Downtown Disney, even before you've entered the parks) and that moustaches are okay, but beards are not. The truth is that in today's world and with today's employees, beards are okay. It may not be the most professional look, but it's highly acceptable in many places to have stubble or scruff. Being scruffy is to 2012 as the moustache was the 1970s. And of course, corporate Disney okayed facial hair quite a while ago. It was only the parks that maintained the moustache-only standard.

Negative acceleration, indeed!

The ride's gone the same speed since the day it was officially opened to the public. The addition of magnetic brakes made the ride feel like there was more deceleration, because it happened rapidly instead of steadily, but it's always gone the same speed while available to the public. Kings Island's website lists the ride duration of the Backlot Stunt Coaster as "2 minutes" when like I mentioned, it's less than 65 seconds. The Crypt's duration was listed as 2 and a half minutes, when the ride cycle barely made it to one and a half. I think that amusement parks are in the business of exaggerating. "Four minutes and ten seconds" reads as "four minutes," while "four minutes and fifty seconds" reads as "five minutes," and when a ride is being advertised as the longest of something, that helps. Some parks on the other side of the Atlantic exaggerate in much different ways, one of which has been circulating the internet recently and would be seen as entirely inappropriate in America, especially near Kentucky.

Tanned warthog carried in WWII war plane grows thumbs, steals keys from Portuguese-speaking labrador retriever guard, unlocks cage, leaps out of plane, pulls parachute just in time over Venezuela, catches a tail wind, flies to Ohio, falls squarely on the shoulders of one Mr. Richard Kinzel, who stands, then says without a moment of hesitation, "Now that's a Golden Parachute." Possible not likely.

Or the friend was being kindly denied a job at Kings Island. "And you... You can be a shift leader at Son of Beast!" "Gasp! Really? Even though it's my first year?" "Of course. We'll see you in the spring!"

So they've removed it from the website just for giggles? What's your source?

Canada's Wonderland's website doesn't seem as professionally written as ours: Aside from the "less than 10 seconds" to launch thing being... odd... The apostrophe in King's (twice) and the idea that it's one of three Premier rides in the chain (which actually has quite a few more Premier coasters)... The awkward way that they mention it used to be called "The Italian Job..." And don't get me started on the 2 minute 12 second ride time (from launch to final breaks the ride takes less than 1 minute 5 seconds... And that's including the stop at the helicopter, which Canada's doesn't do). I guess without a dedicated fan site, Canada's Wonderland has no one to police their website.

I had a dream that Kings Island announced dueling suspended Crypts for 2012 - two of them, face to face in the building. In the commercial advertising it, they were shown falling toward red fountains. I was in heaven. Rest in peace, my friend!

^ Franklin was the first African American character in the Peanuts strip. Too bad they didn't introduce him to the park earlier... Would've made the transformation of Little Bill's Giggle Coaster a lot simpler... You mean, like Kings Island? Ouimet is a smart man and helped transform Disneyland Park into Disneyland Resort. To do that, he helped oversee the integration of Disney California Adventure Park, Downtown Disney, and two new resort hotels. Parks like Kings Island and Cedar Point can certainly be multi-day destinations for some people, but like Disneyland Park when it was all by its lonesome, even that has its limits. You also have to consider what people stay in "official, on-site" hotels for. At Disney World, it's convenience. It's a 30,000 acre resort, and staying at an on-site hotel offers ease of transportation, pure and simple. At Disneyland, where some off-property hotels are a shorter walk than the on-property ones, guests who stay in official hotels want to be part of the magic and the charm. There are also benefits, like early admission, exclusive entrances, Disney dining plans, Fast Passes upon check-in, airport transportation, bags that "appear" in rooms while you check in, and "Disney magic" that brings the experience of the parks into the hotel room. As I see it, an on-property, "official" hotel at Kings Island would provide no more services than an off-property one, and would cost quite a bit more. A "Kings Resort" if you will would probably jack up the price and offer customer service and amenities comparable to the Super 8 across the street. Besides that, Kings Island is a park that caters to locals to a great extent. Disneyland wasn't nearly as much of an "international destination" until the second gate came along, and the existence of only one hotel until 2001 demonstrates that.

... And from that came the $1 million in extra revenue earned by Kings Island this summer... Think about that figure. Add in the other four big parks, expand it to the whole summer, and pretty soon you'll literally get a "free" coaster. This system required very little initial or ongoing cost. No machines, no Q-bots, no computer systems, no distribution tickets.. Just signs to point up the exit and generic event wristbands. Morality (aka, opinion) aside, it's smart. Really smart.

You're right that Disney's Fastpass system is included with park admission, but I wouldn't say it's "at no extra cost." Keep in mind, a one day ticket to a single Disney park (no parkhopper) is $80.00 plus tax. The cost to build, stock, and upkeep those Fastpass distribution machines is factored in there. The problem with a system like that at Kings Island is, the price for a daily ticket would need to be high every single day to manage that system, but the system itself would only be used on Saturdays in the summer and Haunt nights, so someone visiting on a Wednesday in May would need to pay more for their ticket, then have access to a system they didn't need. I also suggest that, if you truly only visit once every two years, you come here to ask for help planning for the trip. There are only a few days during the years that any of Kings Island's rides approach a wait time that I would call "hours." If you really only have one visit every two years and you choose a Saturday in July, you've dug your own grave. I would say on an average day in the summer, the longest line you'll find is Firehawk at 45 minutes to an hour, while everything else will be between a walk on and 30 minutes. On most days, you can do the entire park in a day. Also as you've read here, many make the case that this world affords more to people who will pay more. People often bring up an interesting argument: If it is indeed immoral for someone to pay extra to have "no wait," then is it immoral for you to come to Kings Island at all, since there are people who can't afford it? Is it wrong that there is a tiering system in place there? There's no right or wrong answer, and I understand your frustration. But on another level, the worst thing you can teach your kids is that life is fair. They needn't know the whole story, of course, but you can say "Those are the people with big houses and lots of money." It's something they probably already know as reality, or will learn soon.