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I tell you what RailRider seeing you post more lately and from a few others has given me hope that things can turn for the better during this off-season. I still laugh about the Island incident and many other fun times I have had with some of the best people I have met anywhere. KIC still in my opinion has some of the best members with both a heart and a fun light hearted side to them, which makes KIC more like a community fan site versus just a fan site. I tell you what buddy I will work on that trip report and in return please try and post yours as I am very interested in seeing your experiences. Plus the fact that we can see beutiful Cloe growing before our eyes is a great bonus for us. I hear you there BoddaH1994, the problem I fear is that many are following your advice and moving on and worst not posting. This community is resilient and becomes better with every season that passes as many life long friendships have been entrusted. One way or another those friendships will endure and I hope they keep forming right here. Now on topic; I too am a little disappointed in just a gray color scheme but just a little as I did not expect them to change it. I am just glad to see it being done as I think it will help the ride not look run down.

Well said Stalkerchick, That is the main reason my post and visits have significantly dwindled so drastically, I enjoy this site but miss the the days when all opinions were valued and through discussion we all learned from each other with differing opinions or experiences.

I believe you answered your own question, but as far as how many readers and members have rode The Bat at Kings Island here on KICentral I would say that figure is over a thousand (easy) including myself. It was a fun coaster to ride and loved the high swinging motion.

Busch Gardens begs to differ! Even CP has some odd shops along Frontier Trail (not the extent it used to be however). Well you better add Holiday World, Dollywood and EPCOT to the list then, but wait..... you said amusement parks and those are theme parks. I wonder which type of parks I bought the most merchandise from this year. Hint:: Hundreds of $ difference in purchases separate the two.

I love live Cirque du Solei shows and admittedly it is tempting to come over from Indy to enjoy one in a Big Top atmosphere. A bit of concern on my part is that it seems Coney Island is at risk every spring of high water issues.

Looks good and I think the kids will like it with great "Cars" (the movie) theme surrounding the experience.

Yes I do miss the grand music a lot in that southwest park in Ohio. Nice trip report I enjoyed the read and pictures a bunch thanks for taking the time and sharing.

Oh I don't know about that CedarPointer. My family must travel at least a couple hours to get to a amusement/theme park, so it is always a long day for us and we tend to enjoy a quit sit down meal when we visit the parks. It gives us some time to relax and recharge and to be honest having a nice meal has become part of our park experience. Here is a list of where we have eaten as a family when visiting the parks this year. KI as a family we have left the park to eat at Skyline Chili and at Frisch's Big Boy. At Holiday World, we chose Plymouth Rock but went to the other side of the building away from the crowd and noise. At Dollywood we ate at Aunt Granny's, a sit down table service restaurant. The past few weeks Busch Gardens Tampa - Counter Service but they offered full service, we had a reservation elsewhere after the park closed so we will try Busch Gardens table service next year. Especially since the construction will be done. Animal kingdom – Sit down Tusker House Magic Kingdom – Sit down Tony's Restaurant Hollywood Studios – Brown Derby, a full service nostalgic replica restaurant from old Hollywood. EPCOT - The new Italy Pizzeria, which serves a verity of pasta and individual gourmet made to order pizzas. Sea World – Makahiki Lual Why such a long post – well as you can see we do eat at sit down places at the parks and at every park I mentioned above except for two offers a sit down restaurant and if you did not have a reservation then you waited for a very long time, if they even offered you to wait. This is during the off season so you can see there is a demand for full service table service. At Holiday World's Plymouth Rock there is always a line, but at Kings Island closes to table style service, we have never had to wait more than two families. As always I am not knocking Kings Island as it is my home park but in the Food Service area is where I am most displeased, basically because it lacks in so many areas and is way over priced for what I get. I do spend more $ at the other parks for food as my example above shows. So I am willing to spend the $, but just for what I feel is worth it. I do not think that it is a question if KI will make money with a table service but more of an issue with upfront capital expenditure.

At the Orlando Attractions Magazine web page for the announcement of Cheetah Hunt they added some more fun facts about the ride times and launch speeds ect... below are some of them Cheeta Hunt Facts Launches: Launch 1: 30 mph, Launch 2: 60 mph, Launch 3: 40 mph Track Length: 4,429 feet – more than three-quarters of a mile Maximum Speed: 60 mph Maximum Force: 4G Height: 102 feet Ride Duration: Three and a half minutes with loading and unloading, about one minute and 20 seconds of ride time. Vehicle: five trains, 16 passengers per train Guest Capacity: 1,370 guests per hour Height requirement: 48 inches Manufacturer: Intaride LLC, exclusive U.S. supplier of Intamin rides Go to their site with the link below to get more information from questions fans had about Cheetah Hunt from Busch Gardens officials. http://attractionsmagazine.com/blog/2010/10/13/full-details-on-busch-gardens-new-cheetah-roller-coaster-and-habitat-videophotos/ The more I see and hear the more excited I am to ride it. I just hope it does not bang my head around like Maverick does for me.

I was amazed at how much this future coaster goes through the park and through some very picturesque areas. When we were there it seemed as if the construction walls went on forever and often wondered how the park would look during normal times. At many times there were construction walls on both sides of the path and it seemed like we were walking in an over sized maze. To be honest it made it hard to know where we were especially since it was our first visit. I will admit we did take a few wrong turns and get lost a few times. We really enjoyed Busch Gardens Tampa and look forward to returning to finish seeing everything we missed the first time. The coasters were fun, themed and most of all very thrilling. I think what excites me the most about the new coaster "Cheetah Hunt" is knowing how it will hug the terrain through what looks like a wild savanna and by the same people who created Mantas theme. I truly feel in love with Manta not only for the long G force pull over the first loop but also because it is by far the best outside themed coaster that I have ever ridden on. So you can understand that if they bring in some of the Jungla aspects to the queue line and with the savannah terrain then Cheetah Hunt may become my new favorite coaster over Manta. I must not have paid too much attention to the earlier name as I did not pick up on that, but as I toured the park I kept saying to myself seeing parts of it that it seemed like a cheetah running path and a good name for the ride would be Cheetah Run. Well now that the name is announced I think it is highly appropriate and will help the soon to be riders get into the ride of a soon to be great coaster. I can understand how others like the other name as it sounds cooler but honestly after seeing the area I really think Cheetah Hunt is more appropriate and best describes the theme experience they seem to want to convey.

This is exciting news!!!!! As someone who has visited Discovery Cove in the past few weeks as a guest I wonder how it will be possible to fit more activities in the same day. We arrived at opening and picked out a great lounge area to sit but the only time we sat down was at the free lunch area and only returned to our lounge chairs to pick up our belongings to leave. Discovery Cove was the highlight of our recent trip and we cannot wait to return especially now with even more to see and do. Ryan I absolutely agree with Todd on this one about the walking tour. Even though the grounds is well landscaped in tropical lush. The real beauty of Discovery Cove and were most of the action is, is below the surface. <object width='640' height='360'> <param name='movie' value='http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=player&.swf' /> <param name='flashvars' value='config=http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=conf%26hs=ec9bec80d1d4166020d4e4ad0cfa19ab%26u=1009485%26a=4807297%26i=111504278%26w=640%26h=360' /> <param name='allowFullScreen' value='true' /> <param name='bgcolor' value='#000000' /> <embed type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='640' height='360' allowfullscreen='true' bgcolor='#000000' src='http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=player&.swf' flashvars='config=http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=conf%26hs=ec9bec80d1d4166020d4e4ad0cfa19ab%26u=1009485%26a=4807297%26i=111504278%26w=640%26h=360'></embed> </object> I will be telling everyone I know who plans to make a trip to Orlando to not miss the opportunity to experience Discovery Cove for themselves. There is a bit of an expense for it, but So Worth Every Penny and in fact I would recommend Discovery Cove as a excellent splurge choice. We have been home for less than a week and when anyone asks how was our trip, I rave about our Discovery Cove experience. Ryan if the person is the same person who we meet down there a few times (and I am sure it is) as to who Todd is referring to, then I am sure he can take care of you too. He gave us several tips and helped save us tons of $$ which we then bought more Discovery Cove souvenirs with. We are extremely grateful for his tips and money saving opportunities, but enjoyed his company even more during some of our park times. The whole family loves him!!!

This is great news to hear thanks for sharing, We absolutely feel in love with Sea World parks during our recent trip and it is nice to see a place respecting sea life and sharing that with us in a fun way. BTW as we flew out from IOA last night (9PM) I looked down shortly after take off and could see Sea World's Shamu Stadium all light up and wondered why especially during that hour. Thanks for the update.

Hello everyone. Like normal spring and summer are filled with many personal events and get together. For us this year summer has given us many unique opportunities to visit some other amusement parks and to take in a mountain or two. We have enjoyed ourselves so far and last weekend when a prior commitment needed to be rescheduled, we as a family explored several options to fill the weekend. Several ideas were floated around St Louis, Chicago or maybe back to another amusement park with cave exploration the following day. On Thursday morning I looked over our options and then called the wife and told her "You know what I think we really would enjoy and need to do, we need to go back home (Kings Island) I have been missing our frequent trips and think we just need to go home". Lisa agreed and said she thought we need a trip back to Kings Island too. So it was settled "Home Sweet Home" here we come. Well someone from Kings Island must have known we have been home sick as a couple hours after deciding to go we received a text announcing the Train Tour would be offered to KICentral members for half price. I enjoyed the sneak peek train tour back in May and wanted to bring the family to enjoy a wonderful behind the scenes experience. Friday night I found myself stirring around in anticipation of seeing some friends again, also to see some new shows added to Kings Island entertainment list, sharing time with the family especially the Train Tour. But most of just the feeling of being home with all the sights, sounds and smells of my home park. I am changing this style of a trip report a bit as I usually give a chronological list of activates of that day and in many times in the order we did them, with a video at the end. This time I am going to start with a video and then share my thoughts about going home to Kings Island. I think this video is a good way to start as it helps set the tone and mood for the long day <object width='640' height='360'> <param name='movie' value='http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=player&.swf' /> <param name='flashvars' value='config=http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=conf%26hs=1747a174224ec81b03c345ee92b435e4%26u=1009485%26a=4541458%26i=105188421%26w=640%26h=360' /> <param name='allowFullScreen' value='true' /> <param name='bgcolor' value='#000000' /> <embed type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='640' height='360' allowfullscreen='true' bgcolor='#000000' src='http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=player&.swf' flashvars='config=http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=conf%26hs=1747a174224ec81b03c345ee92b435e4%26u=1009485%26a=4541458%26i=105188421%26w=640%26h=360'></embed> </object> It had been two months for me and three months for Lisa and Miss Rae since our last visits so as you can see we took in all the park had to offer that day and it was really felt good to be home. I'll start off sharing my thoughts on the Train Tour. The tour starts 1 hour prior to Kings Island opening at 10AM and this was such a great way to start off our day. First of all seeing so many friends (fellow members) at the station and catching up helped set the mood almost like "I'll meet you at the station" feel. I was very happy to see a great friend of mine Ronny who works at Kings Island (who just got a big promotion, congratulations) was the person selected to be the narrator of the Train Tour. Then the tour itself offered so much interesting information and honestly even though it was my second time around I learned just as much this time as last. Engineer Steve really took his time in presenting fun interesting facts about the workings of the train. I could sit all day and listen to his many stories about working with the Kings Island train. Back at the station they give the participants a chance to see the engine more up close and to take a photo of you with the train for no charge. For those more interested in a more detailed report on the Train Tour, I would suggest reading my trip report I did back in May titled "This Little Train Of Ours" which can be found here http://www.KICentral...showtopic=21345 Since we never know who is reading these reports I would like to share a more personal thought about the Train Tour. This summer was the first time the Train Tour is/were offered at Kings Island, especially to the general public. I hope that the Train Tour is still offered in future years as it really has much to offer. I also think when evaluating the success this year and then deciding on its future that maybe the supply versus demand theory should be considered. Basically fewer dates and price adjustment or that it is also used for coaster enthusiast events and corporate picnics. I really think the Train Tour is a wonderful behind the scenes tour and one that should stay in some useful function. Moving on to Entertainment; We have been entertained with five new shows this year at Kings Island and a new night time light show. On our most recent visit we were entertained by several of these to include Signed, Sealed, Delivered – A celebration of Motown favorite songs and the singer/entertainers do a superb job in dance moves and voice to come very close to the original recordings. Snoopy On Ice – Very well performed the costume, choreography, set designs, lighting where way above par and what anyone could expect at an amusement park, but wait there is more the skating performers are the Real McCoy in their skating and performance talent. Snoopy's Starlight Spectacular – LED lighting on and behind the Eiffel Tower to include free standing displays, trees. bushes or anything else they could stick a sting of lights on. Many times the music of the area is synced to the tights. Beautifully done and a wonderful addition to a typically non used dark area of Kings Island. For the last couple years I have heard many times that Cedar Fair has brought back the entertainment at Kings Island. In my opinion that statement is inadequate, I say this because as I watched the shows I was awe inspired from the talent depth, wardrobe, choreography, lighting and set designs, it is clear that the Entrainment Department at Kings Island has evolved into a top notch Entertainment Department that can Kings Island can take great pride in while other should aspire to perform at this level. I say everyone who works with the Entertainment division of Kings Island should take a much deserved bow. You have entertained me well and I Thank You!!!! Random thoughts and opinions; On our visit on Saturday July 17, 2010 it was a very hot day but we found much relief by spending time at Boomerang Bay Water Park and the late afternoon shows to keep us cool. It seemed to be a very busy day but the crowds did not affect us much as there is so much variety of entertainment offering s to keep a family cool and happy, even when lines are long at the ride attractions. We did stay to enjoy Kings Island late into the evening (midnight) to enjoy the ambiance that can only be enjoyed after dark. On our way back to Indianapolis we remarked how wonderful our visit back to our home park Kings Island was, that it was fun to see everyone and all the improvements that has been going on since our last visit. Since it was a 13 hour day at Kings Island "our dogs were barking" on the way back to Indianapolis which made our conversation about our "Home Sweet Home" Kings Island visit sound a bit like this. <object width='640' height='360'> <param name='movie' value='http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=player&.swf' /> <param name='flashvars' value='config=http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=conf%26hs=96462d2655eced5babc43da7d07a6dc4%26u=1009485%26a=4541458%26i=105449854%26w=640%26h=360' /> <param name='allowFullScreen' value='true' /> <param name='bgcolor' value='#000000' /> <embed type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='640' height='360' allowfullscreen='true' bgcolor='#000000' src='http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=player&.swf' flashvars='config=http://albums.phanfare.com/video_config.ashx?m=conf%26hs=96462d2655eced5babc43da7d07a6dc4%26u=1009485%26a=4541458%26i=105449854%26w=640%26h=360'></embed> </object> I do encourage those who only go to Kings Island occasionally to go and soon as Kings Island has really enhanced in so many areas from the landscaping to rides and entertainment. You will be glad you did. To those who visit often but for some reason have not been back lately, well it is time to go come home for a visit. To those who seem to always be home at Kings Island keep writing to us as it is always good to hear the latest news from home. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the report Finally thanks to everyone who makes our Home Park Kings Island a great place to come home to.

Loving the report so far and I am looking forward to the rest of the reports. You all must have been wore out towards the end.

Nice trip report I think we need to start thinking about a trip there sometime soon. thanks for taking the time to share.

Glad to hear you had a great time and got to spend so much quality time with the animals. Stay safe coming home.

Good because I am planning on being there. The thing is I went to the first one as an KIC invite back in May and it was the best behind the scenes tour I have attended at Kings Island so there is no way I am going to miss this opportunity at such a low price. i will see you all there. BTW - I am hoping this tour with KIC price discount is extended to our family as I want my family to enjoy it with me. Seeing Kings Island & Miami Valley Railroad pull around the bend tomorrow morning with fellow KICentral members will be llike "Home Sweet Home"

Grand Carousel - Not tons of guests around that area and it gets dark but because of the Carousel lighting it tends to be a romantic spot. Plus many places that you both will hopefully travel to will have a carousel as well. Another good thing about that area is that you will not need to worry about what type of music playing or what song as it will be carousel music for sure. hope that helps some. Add to the fact that the Carousel offers so many opportunities to use it as an analogy on what ever you want to say now and in the future, like the ups and downs and and life goes around and around. Another thing is that if this relationship last for a while and ends up with marriage and children the carousel will have extra meaning as you watch your family grow.

Tripod

Great Report Markr and I am glad you finally got over here to experience the special feel Holiday World has to offer. You know once you go to Holiday World you will want to go back soon to see everything you missed the first time. I particularly love a live band it the water park it adds so much to the atmosphere and to me those little extras make the difference.

Yeah I was hoping a discount would come around so I could take my whole family. I do hope this discount allows me to bring the family, just let us know where to buy the tickets and we will be on-board. This is just the perk we needed to get us back to Kings Island even though we have been wanting to for several weeks now. I think we will make it a two day event for us as long as I can find a decent room for a decent price even if it is not close to the park.

This is a nice glowing report about Kings Island from a newspaper only 1 hour from Dollywood no doubt. The one thing that evidently weighed heavily on the writers mind was the high prices so much so that the tip for her readers is for everyone to bring a cooler to eat out of. So now in news articles the writers are warning its readers about the prices at Kings Island I wonder if the Kings Island worshipers will start a campaign in the editorial sections of the newspapers and compare prices at Kings Island to other sporting events and movie theaters. It warms my heart to see such a glowing positive report about my life long home park but just breaks my heart seeing articles exposing high prices too especially during a time when people are finding they need to cut their expenses. I just hope prices come down a bit before more families are steered away to other destinations. Yet again just this week I spent about 15 minutes with the corporate secretary of my biggest customer in explaining all that Holiday World has to offer because her and her husband decided not to go to Kings Island because of the cost and she heard it was much cheaper at Holiday World. I said it before and I will keep saying it Kings Island reputation of being over priced is very real here in Indianapolis and Holiday World is capitalizing on that perception well. If Kings Island numbers are staying high in attendance and per caps I think that is great and I wish that for them always. I must admit I have seen a big change in attitudes around here everyone loves the park but are put off with the prices, this is very REAL and articles like these is just backing up what many of us are hearing from casual acquaintances.

Hmmmmmm Hank I think you can add - You keep the hand out for the stamp that binds Because you're marked, you walk the line. If you do it correctly, there will be no need for a Johnny on the spot, so you can put away your Cash or there is always the alternative finding yourself playing at Folsom.

Agreed, Great report I really enjoyed the read and pictures this evening thanks.

Nice find and thanks for sharing such a unique heavy themed ride attractions, at a fair no less with us. To me Theme plays a huge role in atmosphere. I just love this report thanks.