bkroz

The Beast only has one very naughty kid, but who's to say The Racers and Beast don't have some type of relationship? Geographically, it's pretty easy to see that The Racers gave birth to Action Theater. Admittedly, there may have been a surrogate.

Every generation of posters thinks they're the first, eh? Anyone thinking "the world's largest bonfire" might be a fun world record to break? I haven't heard that one in a while! (Not picking on you, Titan! I've just been here long enough to see everyone and their mother come up with a Pun of Beast).

The effort is appreciated. I can't comment on why the Interpreter said what he did in response to your post, but on my behalf, it's sort of laughable that your solution is to replace "the supports, the track, and the rose-bowl." So... Build a new roller coaster? Aside from that, there are many folks on this discussion board who are far, far wiser than either you or I when it comes to this issue. If even they don't have a financial figure to show how much any given change would cost (be it new trains, new track, topper track, Iron Horse track, Intamin work, etc) then there's absolutely no way you or I could know for sure what would be the cheapest. It's very possible that the demolition of Son of Beast and a brand new GCI wooden coaster in its place would be the cheapest option in the long run. Really! That plan may have the lowest initial investment, and even if it doesn't there's no way to know what Son of Beast may cost even after a "fix" is found. Another lawsuit? Another accident? New trains? Those might need factored in... And don't forget that Cedar Fair pays undoubtedly massive amounts of money to an insurance company, just like you or I. The difference is, they're insuring multi-million dollar contraptions with hundreds or thousands of moving parts which millions of people ride on each year. The insurance rate offered just to open Son of Beast ("fixed" or not) may be so astronomical that it's not worth paying. We as visitors and even enthusiasts simply do not know those raw numbers, so we do not know which potential choice is cheapest.

i must saying im starting to agree... IK SHOCKING ISN'T IT? i would say for cheapest would be replace suports and track and change rosebowl. Honestly, I'm trying to help... Re-read your posts. Use spell check. Copy and paste everything you type into Microsoft Word if your internet browser doesn't come equipped with a spelling and grammar check of its own. Either you are really, really rushing, or you are not the age that our terms of service require you to be in order to create an account here. Or (worst of all), you are of appropriate age and still making these errors without even bothering to look back before posting. The pronoun "I" is capitalized when used to reference oneself. Always. Always. Always. "I'm" is a contraction (a combination of two words) that joins "I" and "am." As such, it, too, is capitalized. Always. (Unless, of course, you're poet e. e. cummings, which I can be sure you're not). And you literally used the sentence: "I must saying I'm starting to agree." I corrected your capitalization and punctuation and it's still a mess. Literally read that sentence aloud to yourself. Is that a sentence at all? Would you ever verbally speak like that? So why type like it? Another sentence: "I would say for cheapest would be replace supports..." Again, read that aloud. Really. I'm not picking on you or asking for the world. Part of the terms of service of this community require you to use correct spelling and grammar. I can't even begin to actually comment on the point you're making because my mind is so fried from trying to figure out what it is you mean. I promise you that you have the potential to become a great contributor to this website, and that your opinions will be heard. But you need to express them before they can be understood, much less commented on.

Waldameer in Erie has a VERY nice log flume- no $5.00 needed & built just a few years back. Exactly. It's possible to have a relaxing, quick-spritz, no-fuss log flume to cool you off, but not leaving you sopping wet. But people pay for the family dryers, and I bet three or four uses per day and those things pay for themselves. It's just a shame that, with Shoot the Rapids, they couldn't even be subtle (like an elephant shower, or a spitting beagle). Instead, you're literally hosed down from both sides with rough, hard water jets spraying right into you. So at Cedar Point, your choices are soaked, soaked, or soaked. Seems like a waste of man power to keep all three running! I like the looks on all their faces... Are we having fun yet? GYK, who once sat his friend down and forced her to watch a POV video of Shoot the Rapids. Her response throughout: "Are you kidding me?" Doesn't quite have the speed of our flume, does it? And somehow, it has even less themeing... And nothing like water in both ears after that smaller drop, eh?

Remember how everyone breathed a sigh of relief when Universal did Harry Potter "right," with many going so far as to say they were happy that the deal had fallen through with Disney? Universal, many said, did even better than Disney might've given the same boundaries. Can you imagine if some seasonal regional park in Ohio had a brown roller coaster named after Harry Potter? They'd send the dementors after us. Really.

Someone PLEASE direct him toward the Crypt. Please. The man needs to see it.

I think this is one of the biggest problems with water rides. All I can think of is Cedar Point. You can choose either the splashdown with the enormous wave, the raft ride with the waterfalls and geysers, or the flume ride that sprays hoses right in your face. There's no light misting anymore. It's like, you will be soaked, dripping, and drenched all day, it's just a question of which method you'd like to get there. But as people have said, as long as they make $5.00 family dryers, I wouldn't expect that to change...

Backlot Stunt Coaster did get queue music this season. It plays the soundtrack from "Oceans Eleven" (which maintains the suave, spy, action-crime motif about as near to The Italian Job as they can get) and also plays music by Frank Sinatra. It works very well thematically!

Pretty much every single time on Backlot's triple helix... Family coaster or not, that little thing packs a punch.

Of all the rides worth paying for the licensing rights to, Flight Deck is pretty much dead last. Rides like Backlot Stunt Coaster and The Crypt would actually be improved by regaining their references to Italian Job and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Flight Deck / Top Gun would be pretty much the exact same ride even if it were named Poo Poo Coaster 2004 (not that I'm insinuating that it's poo poo). Flight Deck is probably the worst name on record (why couldn't it just be "Afterburn" like Carowind's Top Gun?), but again, I think this is being read into a little too much. Really.

The fact that the train doesn't have a logo on it and that the flooring is torn up is a good sign? After all, that's all that we know... The fact that that has somehow made the leap to multi-million dollar Vekoma floorless trains is all conjecture. Possible? Sure. But this is exactly how people end up disappointed on this site. We notice that a sticker has been peeled off of a train, and within an hour some are complaining and some are deliriously happy about the new Vekoma trains. Uh... What? Slow down folks!

While I don't think a removed sticker that was already peeling pretty badly as evidence of new trains, I wouldn't mind them. It could be marketed nicely as "NOW FLOORLESS" and inject some new life into the ride. A lot of people have been asking for new life to injected through the ride, and this is probably the most realistic and worthwhile way to do that... Better than a fog machine or a ride soundtrack (how do you market that?) The Vekoma trains do swing, but I haven't ridden them so I can't comment on which is better or more comfortable. Have you? Besides, it's been 10 years since the Vampire opened with those trains. They could have been greatly innovated upon, perhaps even with over-the-shoulder lap bars like WindSeeker. Depends on what Cedar Fair is willing to pay...

Nothing has been made official (or, "for a fact") yet. For all we know, Kings Island may not even have a Halloween Haunt this year. I wouldn't get too upset before anything official is announced. (What I'm saying, Haunt_Mouse, is welcome, and be cautious of definite wording! I don't think any of us can say for sure what might happen to the park tomorrow, much less this fall. Even those who do know for a fact can't say here...) And even if Massacre Manor is gone (someone correct me if I'm wrong) it has been around under various titles since the days of Paramount's FearFest. It's natural that older houses (or ineffective ones) be bumped off to make props and payroll available for new ones. So even if it's true that those two haunts are gone (which, again, is not confirmed or even hinted at by the park) then there'll be something that their parts are used towards soon enough.

My interpretation is that we'll see changes in both directions as certain variables are tested. As we all hoped, it seems that Mr. Ouimet does truly prioritize guest experience above all else, and asserts that if the guests are made happy on a most basic level while visiting the park, they will return, and that will boost revenue. That seems so obvious that it's a shame it has to be spoken. If the visitor is made a priority from the parking tolls to the exit hand-stamp, and doesn't feel that they've been given the runaround or squeezed for every drop (do any Disney rides charge $1.00 for 3D glasses - and we're talking rides with real HD 3-D, not disposable cyan-and-red dayglo 3D), then they will return. And when they do, they'll bring friends and family with whom they want to make memories. I think our new president gets that, and even moreso I think that on a very real, deep level, he is excited to implement it.

I believe it was also repainted two different shades of blue. I find that a shame, because I love the colors of both Invertigos - the orangish, vibrant yellow paired with either the coral red or navy blue. I thought they looked awesome how they were. But when you think of it, a stingray is actually an accurate way to describe the shape of a boomerang coaster, so I get the water theme.

I wouldn't have minded if International Street become "Hollywood Boulevard," as was rumored during the early Paramount Era. I think it would be cool to have Hollywood style architecture, film set lighting, movie props, etc. Sure people were initially miffed by the idea, but what difference does it make now? Not like there's anything international about it... I imagine it sort of like Downtown Disney in either California or Florida... Some unique shopping and dining opportunities, but a quaint feel. Like, white Christmas style lights in the trees all the way down the street, fountains synchronized to the music, new LEDs in the fountains, etc. I think it'd be really beautiful.

Unlimited soft drinks and sunscreen And a daily admission price that matches that. I have never been to Holiday World, so I can't speak to the quality of the rides. However, all three of their wooden coasters are famous in the industry. Just don't let promises of free soft drinks get your blood racing. A single day, double day, and season pass ticket for Holiday World costs more than those same options at Kings Island. I plan to make it there next summer. It seems like a really, really nice family park with some great rides and a lot of spirit, but the drinks and parking and sunscreen are far from free! Perceived value casts its spells again!

And you can feel it, too. Quite easily, if you know to look for it. I think there are two on each side of the track (compared to the thirteen or fourteen on each side for the main launch). The fins are sliding through the extra LIMs in this photo:

Probably nothing major, but none of us can say for sure. Backlot Stunt Coaster uses an advanced electrical technology called linear induction motors to launch, and it has three launch zones. As such, there are a lot of things that can go wrong at any given time from a computer point of view, and I think it's pretty standard for situations like this to occur. I can't remember an opening day that that ride has worked, only because it seems like it takes a while for the technology to wake up and get going correctly. Flight of Fear uses the same technology, and it's down a lot, too. And Dalefan, I haven't seen the Crypt down yet this year. I'd say it's had better uptime this season and last than any time in the past, even as Tomb Raider: The Ride. Love it or hate it, the two flip cycle does wonders, and I think that proves exactly why it was installed, and why it's still in use (granted, I'd still love it if it just went around one more time at the end and did one more flip... It would at least make the ride seem more worth it).

They don't? Who saw neither lava-esque LEDs on The Crypt, nor a completely re-designed queue in Flight of Fear on April 30, 2011... And in 2009, didn't the Crypt begin with nine flips, and end with two? Perhaps not an "improvement" to you, but certainly one for me and probably the park. And think of Disney parks. If an important effect or set of lights does not work, the ride is closed as soon as the opportunity presents itself to do with the least interference. The work is completed, the effect is restored, and the ride is re-opened so that guest experience can remain of paramount importance. Those sorts of parks don't have an off-season, and major work is completed nonetheless! Do I think that these two particular rides were closed to facilitate some big change? Doubtful. Saturday of the Spirit Song festival seems a most idiotic time to do that... But things do change mid-season!

If only I'd known that before I tried to go yesterday. But on a positive note, my appreciation for the Zephyr has been restored.

i did fix some problem with the new version. i will be more lay back now. as a matter a fact i haven't even posted on a SOB broad yet. i have said little about SOB so far. This is truly not meant to sound rude or to turn you off of posting here, but a helpful hint on how to be taken more seriously... Work on your spelling and grammar. It's just easier to participate (and be taken seriously) when you do simple things like capitalizing the first word of every sentence and the pronoun "I" when referring to yourself. And when you speak aloud, would you ever say "I will be more lay back now?" Or does "laid back" sound like a more appropriate phrase? These are the sorts of things worth noting, and practicing it will help you appear more professional, mature, and intelligent. If a word looks like it's spelled incorrectly or if you're not sure of the spelling / usage, look it up. You had an interesting point in another thread when you mentioned that antique cars would be a nice addition, but when you spelled it antic, you lose credibility and people ignore your comments. And could the August announcement be that we're getting a themed Gerstlauer Eurofighter (or something of approximately that size / scale) ready for the beginning of October for Halloween Haunt? Think about that. Really think about it. A six week period in which a haunted ride might be built? Even a "haunted" flat ride would require a structure to house it and visible construction. Even that couldn't happen in a one month period... You literally said, "this doesn't make since [sic] at all." Why doesn't it make sense that the announcement is just a new haunted house? Why is that unbelievable? That may very well be all that it is. And that would be perfectly lovely.

What if a wealthy private investor were to offer multi-millions for a Flash Pass to opening? It's not that much more than a Platinum Flash Pass!

^^ I think you hit the nail on the head, tggrr. Picking and choosing is part of their job. More than likely you've heard that parents have to pick their battles. If you yell at a child for getting crayon on the carpet, and spilling a drink, and breaking a pot, then how is that child supposed to judge true severity when they're yelled at the same way for walking into the street? If folks at Kings Island are admonished by park officials for every little thing, then bringing in a bottle of pop would come across as just as severe as line jumping. I think we can all agree those two things are very different. The problem, I think, is that no one is enforcing either. And it's one thing to pick and choose which rules require more enforcement. But it's a whole other problem when you pick and choose which groups are subject to enforcement. As I said, a group of blatant line-cutters with a dozen reporters got away without so much as a warning because they were tall, loud, young, and African American. If my group of friends had done the same thing, we would've been called out immediately and reprimanded by the other people in line and park officials. I have no doubt of that. I think that it's unfair to ask seasonal employees who are cleaning midways or emptying trash-cans to also be the park police and call out line jumpers or litterers. That puts a tremendous amount of responsibility on them. But I do think that at least half of the employees out in the park at any given time should have radios with which they can communicate with security guards whose job it is to take care of those situations. To me, it's entirely fair that the responsibility of monitoring guest conduct be forwarded to them, since that is what they're paid for.