glennpc

I remember riding The Beast during it's first season in the park - 1979. I was 16 that summer. One cool feature was that the pond extended around the mouth of the tunnel at the bottom of the first drop. From a distance, the train appeared to dive into the pond. Seeing the water coming up at you from the front car of the train was quite a rush, too. I think someone said one reason they drained the pond was because it was stagnant and got nasty in hot weather. While that was true, I think it was also because they discovered that wooden structures and standing water don't mix.

Park web-cams wouldn't be able to help me decide whether or not to visit. I live two hours away, so I leave home before the park opens. The weather can also change quite a bit in the two hours I'm on the road. I have to rely on weather service predictions for the day. For people who live closer and have a season pass they already have your money... Once you're in the park, if you have a smart phone with web access then multiple web-cam views could help you decide which ride to go for next.

I think International Street as one of the views would be cool...

I wonder if the web-cam could be moved to a slightly different position on the tower so that it has a clear view of more of the park?

The Diamondback web-cam currently cycles through at least half-a-dozen different angles - all of DB. Now that the new ride excitement of DB's inaugural season is over, (the DB blog hasn't been updated in five months), I'd like to see something different. I think they should keep the wide shot of DB, (pictured below), and re-align the rest of the angles to point at different areas of the park. What does everyone else think? What would you like to see on the web-cam? . .

This photo is from the Diamondback web-cam on May 3, 2010. In the lower left corner there appears to be several new pairs of concrete footers that weren't there last fall. Does anybody know what they are going to be used for? . .

[sarcasm mode on] How about naming the new coaster... "Son of Beast's Revenge" [sarcasm mode off]

I haven't been to the park yet this year, but in the past I've learned that a major factor in how crowded it will be is the weather. It's almost always less crowded Monday thru Thursday, and if there has been rain/storms in the days leading up to your visit and a chance of rain on the day you are going then that seems to keep the crowds down. A few years ago we went on a Thursday in June were there had been scattered thunderstorms all week. It was so un-crowded that we didn't have to wait for any of the coasters - even The Beast or Flight of Fear. -Glenn

I never said The Beast wasn't exhilirating. It's been my all time favorite coaster ever since the first time I rode it in the summer of 1979. But it is one violent ride. (It's supposed to be - it's The Beast.) The way the cars jump and hop around like they're about to fly off the tracks and the way it throws you around - that's what gets the adrenaline going and makes it so thrilling. Darn right it's a classic woody! I just remember SoB being a little bit smoother. I assumed it was because it was newer and hadn't "aged" as much as The Beast. I guess I just have weird perceptions when it comes to coasters.

I've seen a lot of comments about how uncomfortable the ride was on SoB, but I don't remember it that way. I wonder how much the structure shifted after the last time I rode it in June 2004. (SoB was closed for repairs the day I was there in 2005, and in 2006 I was there after the accident.) To me, SoB was much less violent that The Beast.

6 total years, with probably only 4 years that the ride was actually running makes a tradition? Sorry, I didn't mean to start a controversy. I was just whining about SoB. I agree that it would be a huge mistake to stop the fireworks, and I don't believe CF will pull the plug on them. I saw the loop as a "tradition" in the sense that it was the feature that made SoB world famous. It was even mentioned on an episode of CSI, one of the most popular shows on television right now. The "tallest" and "fastest" records are fleeting, but who would ever have the stones to try and beat the loop? I think SoB is a great coaster, but without the loop it has nothing to set it above all the other big wooden coasters around the country.

Then and now - on the observation deck of the tower. Best place in the park to watch them from. We go up about 20 minutes before they start so we can get a spot right up against the cage with no one in front of us. My most memorable time was June 16, 2004. It was still early in the season, it was a weekday, (Wednesday), and there had been scattered thunderstorms in the area all week so attendance was light. As it got dark we could see very frequent flashes of lightning lighting up the clouds to the east of the park. The storm was far enough away that they didn't close the tower and you couldn't hear any thunder. We watched the fireworks from the tower against a surreal backdrop of silent lightning. I count it on the short list of the most awesome things I have ever seen.

So was the loop on SoB...

I'm gonna show my ignorance with this question... Is the parking lot considered part of the 364 acres that is developed? If not, then there's very little land left, because the parking lot has gotta be almost as big as the park itself. Also, I seem to remember reading somewhere in one of KI's history timelines that they originally started out with something like 1500 acres, and then sold off about half of it just a few years after the park openned. Does anyone know if that's true? If it is, where was that land in relationship to the current park boundaries?

You're absolutely right. But once KI openned... BTW... The old log flume ride from Coney, (which now has a Nick theme), is actually one of my girlfriend and my favorite rides. And we're both 44. Is it actually official that X-Flight is coming to KI? Even though the idea of hand-me-downs makes me nervous, the way so many here are excited about it, I will definitely be in line to give X-Flight a try.