touchdown62

Good thing I had some clean towels. I'm so excited already!

I want to try my hand at developing a Windows Gadget. So I'll try and post back. I'm sorry. We do indeed, Sunday, April 20, 2009. Well season pass preview day is Friday, April 17th. so wouldn't opening day be on the 18th. or 19th? Sunday, April 20 was opening day for 2008. I may wet myself if there is actually a season pass preview day as suggested.

What, do we know when opening day is already?

There are only a handful of coasters I've been on that are no longer around, as I've only been to like 5 theme parks, but my favorite ride that is no more is Shockwave from SFGA. I think that because it's the first ride I can remember going upside-down on without closing my eyes, and I LOVED it.

I used to love that show. "I'm CRUSH CRUSH CRUSHING your head!" THANK YOU!! Someone got it! Why so serious? Let's put a smile on that face!

^You think you're so smart. Look, I'm crushing your head.

looking at the construction of Diamond Back, I would have thought the main area or loading area would be on the opposite side (where corn stalkers were in 2007; A large structure is being constructed which looks like walk up and turn style area? I'm most likely wrong, but thats what it looks like. I believe the large metal structure you're referring to is the maintenance/storage track area where the trains will sleep at night and during slow days (yeah right, slow days) and where they will receive maintenance work.

Holy cow. What a gorgeous day to visit Kings Island! Glad I was able to sneak in one last trip for the year. Gas prices being right around $2 a gallon certainly helped. A friend came with me. She hasn't been since opening weekend and missed The Second Coming and our big trip 2 weeks ago. We got to the park about 11:10 (yes, Eastern STANDARD Time... glad for the extra hour of sleep) and parked in the Gold Pass lot. Didn't matter. No one there to check passes today, not that it ended up being necessary. I went and processed my 2009 Gold Pass, then went in, made the ritual pit stop (2+ hour trip with no stops), and non-chalantly walked right past the photo hounds without getting stopped. That is so much easier with just 2 people than with 6. We wandered around for a bit, ended up going around Nick Universe and through Rivertown, wondering who in the heck dropped a roller coaster in the middle of the road. Heck, I'm ready to ride it right now. As I said before, ride the newest sensation in roller coasters, Diamondback, the world's first jumping coaster! We drooled over it and took pictures for about 10 minutes, then somehow ended up walking right into The Beast. Ok, not a bad way to start. Temps in the mid-60s, and Beast was a walk-on! Got in train 3, car 4, Michelle in seat 2, me in seat 3. Didn't want to get into 3-3-3 right off The Bat and get our rears handed to us. Beast didn't give a bad ride considering it was half empty. Helix carried some nice speed, and the coaster was already screaming. Got back into the station, and no one was waiting in our lines, so we stayed on. Little faster than the first. Fun ride. We got off after the back-to-back rides and drooled some more at Diamondback, then went on the train to see Diamondback's back 40. More drooling. Made Michelle jealous that we actually got to walk back there on our construction tour. I forgot to mention the close-call on the Crypt. Haven't been on it. Don't desire to go, but I owe my friend a ride on it. She rides Invertigo when she doesn't like it, so I begrudgingly went on Crypt. Just as we got buckled in, the ride op announced we needed to unbuckle and head back to the previous room or exit the ride. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Back to the report. Got off the train, then off toward BLSC. Another walk-on. It's not a bad little ride, but IMO, is not worth more than a 15 minute wait. We got in, got all smashed in with the restraints, then got launched into the face-bending upward helix. Ride seems faster than in the past. Loved the fact the sound and light effects still work with the police cars. Got shot at by the chopper and broiled by the exploding gas tanks, then off into the darkness. I personally like it better in complete darkness than with the lights on dodging the cars. At least I remember the lights being on, or maybe I just ate some bad chicken wings and dreamt the whole thing. Not a bad ride. Ended up heading toward X-Base. I think I saw some kids from the KICentral days, but not sure. There were so many, but I'm usually pretty good with faces, if not necessarily names. Firehawk was as much of a walk-on as I think you'll ever see on that ride. Both trains were running. We ended up getting sent to the yellow train (I don't like the Red Train/I don't want to be a blood stain... long story. Be happy to elaborate if you want.) Got strapped in and lowered, and felt that refreshing rush of blood to my head. No PA announcers this time, we just got unceremoniously booted out of the station. Like the climb up the hill. You have quite a bit of time to talk to your friends, scare strangers, and update your will. Only problem... EVIL DAY STAR, right in your face. Reached the top and seemed to get thrown right into the false drop. Seemed faster than usual. Maybe I'm getting old. Flying around like Superman until you get to the loop, then get jacked up into the seat. Not sure how many Gs you pull, but you feel every one of them, and then some. Love the rest of the ride... the barrel rolls, and the skin-stretching helix, then back to your back staring right up into the sun. Good ride. Definitely rearranged my hair. We decided it was time for a bit of a break, so we went for lunch. It was about 1:00 or so. We headed for the Festhaus. On the way, we decided on a quick ride on Adventure Express. We needed our backs cracked, and that's about the most efficient way in the park to get that done. That chain lift is quite rough on the old spine. It's a fun little ride. Now we went for lunch. We split a pepperoni pizza. Separate drinks. We watched some of the Bungles game, then all of a sudden some strange music started playing. I didn't realize they would still be showing Ghouls Gone Wild after Halloween, but we stayed to watch. I'm glad we did. I really enjoyed the show. I think the singing was much better than in many of the shows the past couple years. Whoever the actors were for the 2:00 show sounded good together. The voices complemented each other. The witch was a bit screechy, and Wolfman squeaked a note, but all in all, very entertaining show. Did see Ryan and Dane walk by, but my mouth was too full of pizza to do anything about it. In order to let the food settle, and to take more pics, we headed up the Eiffel Tower. Always a nice view. Again, I think I saw someone from the site on here (the kid who takes such awesome pics), but again, not sure. Face looked familiar, but I see a lot of faces at KI and for our KICentral.com events. Spent about 10-15 minutes snapping pictures. Got some good progression shots from 2 weeks ago to today. We happened to get off the elevator and ended up wandering to the Carousel. I'm all nostalgic and junk, so I love antique, historical rides and stuff like that. I pointed out to Michelle that the horses are PTC horses and showed her the ID medallions on the bridle of the horses. So cool so see that history. Focus on one spot, or you get dizzy. We got off an watched another ride cycle, watching and checking out the old horses. We saw one that was a little worse for wear and thought we saw an old medallion that might have had the horse's name on it. Couldn't see it, so we got back in line and jumped right back on. Turned out it was another PTC ID tag, but still. Nice horse that needs a little TLC. Hope he's next. We hadn't been on Racer yet, so off we went. I love that coaster. Classic wooden down-and-back. and Racer didn't disappoint. There was hardly any screaming on this ride, so I just held my hands up and enjoyed the air time. We wandered up to Action Zone, and on the way, passed AE again. What the heck. It's here, so let's ride it again. After our second AE ride of the day, we continued to AZ and decided to do FD. Long walk, no wait. It's another fun coaster, but not sure it's worth such a long walk. The first drop makes your stomach go into your throat. Speed isn't bad. I like the dogfighter feel of the coaster. Back across the park to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle. Another walk-on. A little girl was scared by the sinister laughter and tried to run out the entrance, but her mom, laughing the whole time, grabbed her and told her there was nothing to be scared about. It's Scooby Doo after all. Guns are always balky at best. This time I had the one that worked and won 780-330. 1 shot away from "Like... Wow!" It was closing in on 5:00, and we were quite satisfied with the day. We decided to end the day and the season the only way you can... Beast. Again, sat in car 4, seat 3. Didn't catch train#. Didn't want to be all beat up in 3-3-3. Had a 2+ hour drive back home to Muncie. Captain Nemo checked our seats. Did get his name right (phew). Did a little taunting to The Beast. I was like "Is the widdle Beast ready for a nappie-poo, or do you have a couple hours of rides left in you?" Answer was B. Faster than the morning runs, especially in the second tunnel. Up the second lift hill, then the turn for the helix. The Beast was ready for another thrill. It didn't jump out of the trim brake, but it sure got out of it in a hurry. Beast showed why it's the best coaster around, has given 29 years of thrills, and will continue to give thrills well into the future. Beast gave us as good a ride on the last day as it did on the first day of the season. Arrived back in the start house totally satisfied. It's sad to think about The Beast all alone with no one able to ride it over the winter, The Beast missing its fans as much as its fans miss The Beast. Come April, we all know The Beast will be ready to thrill its thousands of devoted fans once again. Oh yeah, there's also that snake thingy.

I certainly hope you don't believe that. How many times has that been rebutted on here in the past?

Closing day is Nov. 2nd not the 6th. Maybe you want to READ the WHOLE post. Tig was making a comparison to a closing day 3 YEARS AGO. As Terpy so astutely commented, the park did close on 11-6... IN 2005!

Nice story. I was walking around the park with you when reading it, even seeing King Cobra once again and remembering the time I started slipping out of it in the middle of the ride. Great narrative about The Beast as well. Makes me realize The Beast isn't just there for a thrill or to conquer, but to enjoy and spent 5 quality minutes with. It takes you away from the mad mad world for a bit and always brings you back feeling so much better about things, if not a little bruised at the same time.

Nah, not quite 11 hours, but I was almost late for work!

Guess it was really 10/18 (Saturday). Got so excited that 10/20 was pay day that's all I was thinking about. This is my first attempt at one of these, but thought I'd share our day. There was an air of excitement as one in our group hasn't been to KI in over 20 years. "Papa Cahones" as we call him, more commonly known as Gary, was on The Beast the first year of operation and remembers riding The Racer when it was still a bench seat with the single restraining bar. He's pre-Vortex but remembers The Bat and the Demon. He kept asking questions about Flight Commander, Flying Eagles, Antique Cars and the lot. Seemed disappointed about that, but in the end, he said he had a great time. We got to the park between 11:15 and 11:30. It all started on Red Racer, which was his oldest son Andy's first ever coaster back in 2000 (late bloomer in terms of a roller coaster enthusiast). Having the Blue Racer done for the season made it real easy to decide which one to ride. The Red Racer gave its usual fast ride with ample air time. This time I was prepared for the fall-off to the right. Until that point I still braced for the fall-off to the left. Next we decided to go for Firehawk to get the long wait out of the way. When we got there, only the red train was running. The OP at the front of the line said about 1:15 wait. Since the wait would only get worse as the day went along, we waited. We got to watch a little bit of the start-up routine with the yellow train when they were trying to get it up and running. We had been in line about 15 minutes when they attempted to get the yellow train going. They lowered the seats, then all went quiet, and no, we weren't on the Western Front. The worker bees started running about, then the announcement came over saying the ride had broken down and they didn't know how long it would be before it was running again. Standard announcement. The mass exodus began. The 6 of us had the debate of what to do. My argument was no matter how long we wait, the minute we got out of line and started to walk away the ride would start up again. We decided to wait and see how many people would wait and how many would leave. About half the line left. The ride was down about 10-15 minutes. We really started to feel bad for the folds in the red train because they were stuck in the brake run, and flat on your back with your legs where they are isn't really the most comfortable position to be in, especially with the Evil Day Star shining right into your eyes. Finally there was a glimmer of hope as the red train was brought back into the station. After a few more minutes, the yellow train finally went on its test run, followed by the red train on another test run. The ride was back up. After another 15 minutes, we were sent down the stairs to the yellow train. This was going to be Papa Cahones' first ride on a flying coaster, and he was a bit nervous. When we were going up the lift hill, his younger son Bobby took a picture, and Gary was white as a ghost. Don't go yelling at Bobby for taking a picture on the ride because I know he's not the only one to ever do it. I forgot the cameras were at the bottom of the 1st drop, so when I saw the flash, I looked over at my friend Eric and said, "Well that'll be a flattering picture!" Going up the loop felt like getting jacked up by the Hulk, spun like clothes in a dryer through the barrel rolls, then shaken, not stirred through the helix, all the while the youngest Miller child Abby was screaming like a little girl, well at least one younger than she is (19). Pictures were priceless. Faces contorted like astronauts on re-entry. We kept the pictures priceless by not paying $25,000 or whatever for them. If I remember right, we next revisited our long-time friend The Beast!!! As we walked down, we got to watch some schlock brick shot after shot at the basketball game. Then passed the object of everyone's desires... Diamondback. I was ready to ride that thing right then and there, just as it is... Diamondback, the world's first JUMPING coaster! Hope your insurance is up-to-date! Finally on to The Beast. Andy goes "IT'S A WALK-ON!" Yeah, except for the station full of people. Beast was on the ball Saturday. Incredibly fast. We didn't even have to insult it for it to give us a kick-a** ride. After Beast, there was some passing interest among some of us to go on Crypt, but fortunately for me, it was closed at the time. As it was getting on 2:00, we were starting to get hungry, so we decided to head for the best meal deal in the park, the buffet, that is until we got there. Didn't realize it was closed and was just a special Haunt thing. Bummer. So we thought Chick Fil-A, but $8.00 for a sandwich, fried, and drink... not so much. Third option, Festhaus LaRosa's. 6 people, 3 whole pizzas. Yeah, we're fat. Get over it. Well, not necessarily physically fat, just fat at heart. Then off to the usual after-lunch ride... Viking Fury. Our group makes the ride fun. We don't just scream mindlessly, we yell across at each other mindlessly. However, before we got on, we met perhaps the meanest ride OP in the history of amusement parks. "Put that phone away or I WILL stop this ride!" I'm surprised she didn't get out the flyswatter and start whacking kids as they went by... "You're having too much fun. Don't make me pull this ride over!" Well, we got on at both ends, as high as you can go. The ride started, and we started our Ruffio chants, Marco Polo Chuck Norris, and "you can fight, you can fly, you can *cokk a doodle doo*!" Some others even joined in on the fun. Then we went to Action Zone and got in line for Invertigo. There we saw karma in action, and it was wonderful. Line wasn't too bad, just one run open. We were in line only a few minutes when a group of girls cut across the queue lines and joined 3 others. Apparently they went to the bathroom. Where's an employee or security guard when you need one? Not only that, one started smoking. People in line started to complain, but she got defiant, even when Gary pointed out she was standing right under the "No Smoking" sign. I couldn't get a picture because she kept turning her cancer stick away from me. She chained a second cigarette, then another lit up. When we passed by them in the 1 turn of the queue line, one started rolling a joint. They even lit it up just before the canopy under the loop. Again, no security in sight. As it turns out, they ended up on the same train as us, and when we got off, they were at the front of the train (facing forward first) looking down the ramp like they lost something on the ride. Oh well, tough noogies. Don't smoke weed then try to hold on to something on the ride. We got to the bottom of the exit, and someone's holding a cell phone up in 2 pieces. We all put 2 and 2 together. Yes, it was the pothead group's phone. It was one of those texting phones where you open it up to get to the keyboard. LOVE seeing karma in action. That's what you get for smoking in line. As far as the ride, I sat next to Andy facing backward to start, watching Gary and Eric. Bobby and Abby went to the back by themselves. Still love looking over and watching the faces of the others across from you. No footsie... strict rule. Wonderful ride as usual. Didn't get dizzy like I did for KIC day. Then off to Flight Deck (still wish they called it Dogfighter or something like that). There was actually a bit of a line. 15 minutes or so. Since we walked all that way, we decided to wait, besides, it was Gary's first time on that ride too. We rode it. Kinda tame, especially most of us now can close our eyes and still lean into the ride. Line for Sonny was too long, was actually in queue lines by the Flight Deck bridge. I believe next up was Vortex, again, a first for Gary. Not a bad wait. The line moves well for that ride. We were disappointed the monitors weren't showing the Fatboy Slim/Christopher Walken video this time around. That's an awesome video. We boarded the ride, and Andy at 6'7 or so made a mistake in sitting in the back seat. Almost broke his knees. Bobby, at at least 6'9, was the smart one and rode in the front of the car. We know he's at least 6'9, because the 2 giants took a pic of themselves in front of the Delirium sign that says you must be shorter than this to ride, and Bobby was well above that mark. Vortex was still fast. I can tell when I get out of the double loop and into the right hand turn, I really can't see straight. You get no time to recover as you head right into the corkscrew, very little trim braking nowadays. Just when you think it's over, pretzel roll with another flattering picture. Then you hit the helix and into the brake run, where you finally can get your bearing straightened out. We then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower while there was still daylight so we can see the construction site. For the first time, really, I looked out over the horizon and discovered how far you can really see. Couldn't see Indianapolis from there, but I'm sure you can see across into Indiana. Eric and I then headed down so we could change into costumes before the re-entry cut-off time of 7:00. He dressed as a roller coaster crash test dummy and I went as Grim Reaper (some thought I was the Crypt Keeper, but not quite. I don't have the looks for that). Security had a problem with my hood, so I pulled the hood back a bit and put on my Cubs hat. Yes... The Reaper is a Cubs fan. Maybe that's why they haven't won a World Series in 100 years. We all waited out front for the chasers and other scare actors to come out. Bobby found the redneck fish-looking guy and decided to have some fun with him. When Fish Man wasn't looking, Bobby came up behind and started redneck dancing and party-guy'ed him. After a few seconds, Fish Man told him to grow up. Hmmmm, they can play with us, but we can't play with them. No fun. We walked around for a bit then decided on a nighttime run on The Beast. Line was a bit longer this time, with one turn open in bottom queue lines, all of middle queue lines open, and all of top queue lines open. Wait was about 45 minutes to an hour. Not too bad. We decided in line that Andy, Abby, and Gary were going to try a haunted attraction. Eric, Bobby, and I were going to try riding some more. I don't go to Halloween Haunt for the haunted stuff. I go to ride coasters until 1:00 am in the dark, frosty weather, contact lenses freezing to my eyes. We finally got on The Beast for our nighttime ride. Dark. The moon wasn't up yet. Waxing crescent you know. I love riding that thing in almost complete darkness. Beast was faster than the daytime run. Temps in the 40s, slick track. Love it. Guessing it got close to 70 mph in the helix. Tunnels were freaky dark. After Beast, we split up. Eric, Bobby, and I did another ride on Red Racer. The other 3 went for the attraction near the Scrambler. There was actually a queue turn open for Red Racer... 15 minute wait. Unusual, but not bad considering how packed the park was. Another fun ride. I love The Racer. Classic down-and-back woody. Great air time. We got off and got a call from the other 3. They were still in line by the Scrambler (don't know name of attraction there). We were going to ride something else and meet up after that, but as we walked by Scrambler, they saw us. They were tired of waiting. Then there was a little spat with the "Cahones" clan. I stayed out of it. It was about 9:30, and with Gary being the senior member of the group (read... OLD), they decided to call it quits. He was done with coasters. He rode what he wanted to and had a blast doing so. Eric and I stayed. Had some ice cream and sat down for a bit. Long day you know. This is where we saw some disturbing and, frankly, dangerous activity. Looks like the gloves are off when it comes to the chasers and sliders. When they find a ripe group of people, they don't just scare them, they start to give chase. We saw 1 chaser running after a boy about 14 or so through Action Zone. It was crowded, and they're both running through groups of people. Extremely dangerous, especially running through fog machines. Saw another chaser going after a woman (about 20) through the Coney Maul midway. The guest ran behind one of the midway games, you know, where only employees can go. The chaser kept going after her. She turned around, and when she emerged from behind the game, she tripped and fell over the curb trying to get back on the main path. She was banged up pretty bad. The chaser just walked away. Third incident of a slider chasing a group of 5 girls (probably 16-18 years) out of the fog by Vortex. The slider chased them through the line at the Dipping Dots stand and up to the area of the X-Base entrance. We've never seen chasers and sliders actually chase people this far and this long. It wasn't like they were walking or jogging after these people. They were at a dead-out sprint. I can't believe Kings Island would let these scare actors give chase like that through hundreds of people in the middle of the night through a darkened park and through areas of thick fog. Is this something new, or are the actors going a bit too far? It's one thing to scare people. It's quite another to give chase and dodge people who have no idea what's coming at them or what's going on. Besides the inconsiderate yahoos smoking in line for Invertigo, this would be my major complaint of the day. They're creating an extraordinarily dangerous situation by chasing/sprinting after people just to scare them. It was 10:30, and with the ice cream and cool temperatures, Eric started shivering and getting queasy, so we called it a night. Besides, we had to get back to Indy. Not sure I could have made it if we stayed until 1. It was hard enough to focus leaving that early. All in all, it truly was a fun time had by all, especially the born-again KI virgin. All he knew was Beast and Racer. Everything else was new. Even overheard his conversation with his wife... "I've been shaken, flown, flipped, suspended, and inverted." We think he'll be back. Gotta do Diamondback .

Sure it can. That would be the ultimate in bankruptcy, not just for SIX, but for all its shareholders. Shareholders wouldn't get a single penny back on the money they invested in the company. Maybe they could give shares of their rides to the shareholders. I, for one, would love be part owner of Batman the ride at SFGA. I don't care about the new stuff, give me one of the first inverted coasters in the industry.

The US dollar is once again worth a little more than the Canadian dollar, but not nearly like it was even a couple years ago. $1 US now equals $1.07 Canadian. I remember when $1US=$1.40 Canadian. That was sweet when I went to Toronto back then.

I would go at least once in the winter if it was open, just to say I did it. I would love to ride The Beast in the snow at least once. I have ridden it in icy cold rain and sleet. That hurt so good. It was a couple years ago when they did a passholder-only weekend. Saturday was cold and miserable, so much so they closed at noon. Low 40's, rain/sleet, 30 mph winds. We had just enough time to freeze our faces and numb our brains on The Beast. I could have done without sleet to the face at a combined 100 mph (70 mph out of the helix into a 30 mph headwind), but still loved every minute of it.

Could that be why he said "former Paramount Story area?" Is Tower Gardens the name of that area now?

Yes, and it's a great place to watch them. You just won't be able to hear the music up there.

Well, now that I have regained at least partial feeling and electrical activity in my brain, I would also like to express my thanks to Ryan, Dane, Evan, and other bigwigs at KICentral.com and Kings Island PR department I didn't mention, and of course Don Helbig for another spectacular KIC day. Apart from having my brains completely scrambled on 2 early rides on Invertigo, my friends and I had a blast (note to self: don't ride inverted coasters as first ride of the day). We all did the Son of Beast tour, which was amazing to be so close to such a huge wooden structure. You can tell while riding that it's a very tall coaster, but standing next to it just showed it's monumental size. Due to some health issues with one of my friends (bad feet and can't walk too far... Sonny tour almost did him in), only a couple of us went on the Diamondback tour. All I could say was "wow." I can't believe the amount of space that ride will occupy. Then you add how tall it's going to be, and mercy. All the hype is already worth it, and there's not even a piece of coaster track installed yet (at least that I could see). The Beast tour was awesome again. I got to take some more pictures I couldn't take last year because my phone ran out of batteries. We all enjoyed the picnic. The pulled BBQ pork was very tasty, and the baked mac-n-cheese was delicious. The raffle was an awesome idea, and the autograph picture I got of some Reds player or another was nice, but as a Cubs fan, I have to wonder 2 things... what am I going to do with a signed picture of a Reds player, and who in the [insert censor bar here] would willingly be a Reds fan? Maybe in the 70s and 80s when they were, oh, I don't know, good, but it's time to jump on the Cubs bandwagon (be nice to the Billy Goat on that wagon). ERT on The Racer was the perfect way to end the day. I was able to get 5 rides in before my body threw in the towel (and almost my dinner). RED RACER RULES!! BANGERANG!! We kicked the Blue Racer's derriere! Maybe it's because there was only 1 person riding ol' Blue when we were racing, BUT THAT'S NO EXCUSE!!! GET WITH THE PROGRAM, BLUE RACER!!! MUAHAHAHA!!! Sorry, that was evil twin talking. I pushed him out my window. He's gone now. I also enjoyed meeting more people from the forum. Got to put more faces to names that I'm going to forget by the next KIC Day next year. That's all I have for now. Perhaps when I regain full consciousness and brain activity I may post more, but it's good night for now.

standbyme KIfan73 Avatar cat13 Vortexfan92 jessie8 jamesv7 taynes and daughter BavarianBeatle dare-to-fly touchdown62 (and friends, don't know screen names yet)

When were these pics taken? Just wondering what was causing the big traffic jam on the interstate.

Not KI related, but raining inside vs outside the park reminded me of this... When I was still in high school, I was working at one of the Burger Kings in South Bend. I was working during a pretty good snowstorm one day when we lost power. No power, no food, figure that. We had the doors locked with signs posted to that effect. I watched a couple people pull into an empty parking lot, get out of the car, walk to one door, try to open it, saw and read the sign, then walked to the other door and tried to get in there. I was thinking to myself "yes, there's no power on that side. What makes you think there will be power over there?" Hey, you never know. It could have been a very isolated power outage. BTW, makes me think of a question I've heard from time to time... "What happens if power goes out while Drop Zone (Tower) is in the middle of its drop?" I know there are magnet brakes, but I guess that is a scary thought.

This may be pushing it a bit, but what about White Water Canyon if you want to cool down and don't mind getting a little wet. Congo Falls is definitely a no-no. Just throwing it out there. Never have to worry about the pregnancy thing personally. I can still ride all the coasters even if the wife is pregnant. Maybe that's why I'm still single.

It does kinda look like those big sugar straws you get in the shops. The new construction at Swan Lake does look intriguing, although I liked the trees and landscaping that broke up the concrete jungle. I hope this doesn't become a trend. I know you can't build new rides without expanding beyond the current footprint of the park, but total deforestation of the area would be a shame.

My 5 coasters, if I had to pick... The Beast Firehawk Red Racer Vortex Invertigo Also gotta do Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion and Eiffel Tower.