BoddaH1994

I've seen the old video on the internet before, I just can't remember where.

Didn't it close around 6:00 on Saturdays during Haunt to accommodate for Club Blood's line?

Make sure you let us know how it went!

If you haven't been to Holiday World, you should definitely go. Don't miss a single one of the coasters either. Then you will understand why I insist about dwelling on how much I hate the use of trim brakes at...certain parks. I must agree. And the free drinks and parking, relatively inexpensive food, and the small park atmosphere make it well worth a trip. We went for the first time last year and will absolutely be going back more than once this year. With a park that's a fraction of the size of KI, but costs pretty much the same, I think you're paying for parking and soft drinks as soon as you buy your admissions ticket.

Relax, Haunt is included with park admission.

As a reminder, Kings Island is not open to the public on Sunday, April 19. The park is closed for a private event that day. The park will re-open to the public on Friday, April 24.

As reported tonight by Dan Carrol of Fox19 News in Cincinnati, the Diamondback First Riders Auction has exceeded $75,000 in bids! The park asked me to thank the KICentral Community for their many contributions to this great cause and to remind you that there is still plenty of time to place or extend your bids, as the auction will continue until April 15th at 8:30am. The best news to date is that due to the overwhelming popularity of this auction, Kings Island has elected to add a sixth train! Just to recap, 100% of the proceeds from the auction will benefit A Kid Again, which is an organization that enriches the lives of over 550 children, throughout the Tri-State region, with life threatening illnesses and their families by providing year round, fun-filled group activities and destination events, fostering joy, laughter, normalcy and supportive networking opportunities. If you are a successful bidder - one of the top 192 seats, as reflected on the KIDiamondback Auction Bidboard Site - not only will you get the honor of being on one of the first six trains of Diamondback on Kings Island's Opening Day of April 18th, but you also get a commemorative first rider ticket, a special gift from the park and an admission ticket to enjoy the day at Kings Island. Also don't forget that A Kid Again is a not-for-profit 501©(3) organization, so successful bids are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the IRS tax code. Click Here To Place a Bid!!!

The road to opening day is heating up with less than a month until those gates are finally open for the 2009 season on April 18th. How does an entire summer of high thrills, wet spills and live shows sound to you? A Kings Island season pass gets you access to the park every day the park is open in 2009. Is that not enough? By purchase a Kings Island Gold Pass you also get an entire season of VIP benefits such as early access to Diamondback, Kings Island’s 230’ steel monster set to open with the park in April, almost every day the park is open! Other benefits include early access to Boomerang Bay, discounts on pay-per-attractions, games and merchandise discounts and much much more! For a full list of Kings Island's Gold Pass VIP benefits click here. Are you an amusement park drifter? The Cedar Fair Platinum Pass is perfect for you! A Platinum Pass will get you admission and parking at ALL Cedar Fair properties including but not limited to Kings Island, Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom, Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm and many more! Is that still not enough? A Cedar Fair Platinum Pass will get you all of the unique Gold Pass VIP benefits at each park! Click here to purchase your Kings Island Gold or Cedar Fair Platinum Pass! Do you want to be one of the first members of the public to ride Diamondback? Enthusiasts and park lovers have a unique opportunity to both have the honor of being one of the first to ride Diamondback and help make someone in need’s life better in the process. Members of the public have the opportunity to bid on the first five trains to be dispatched on Opening Day on the morning of April 18th. All proceeds from the auction will benefit A Kid Again, a charitable organization that serves families in need. A Kid Again is a non-profit 501 © (3) organization. All donations and bids are tax deductible. Click here for more information about the Diamondback First Riders' Auction! Do you want the latest information sent directly to your cell phone? Sign up for KICentral's official mobile club and receive text alerts with the latest news and information about Kings Island! Signing up is fast and free! Click here for more information about KICentral's official mobile club! Are you an avid Kings Island fan or do you casually visit once a year? It doesn't matter! KICentral.com is the site for you. Why not register on the forums of KICentral and tell us about your thoughts and experiences involving Kings Island! Registration is fast, FREE, and easy. Don't forget to keep checking KICentral.com for the latest news, rumors and information about Kings Island amusement park! Regards, Ryan

King Cobra here.

I've given The Meff full creative control to write about whatever he wants. Same with Helbig.

Had you asked last week, the answer would almost certainly have been yes. However, as KIMASTER stated, they've drained the splashdown, which implies that they'll be doing work on it over the next few days. My guess would be no.

For the past six years, many of you have seen KICentral progress and continue to meet the evolving, growing and unique needs of our great community. Much of our ability to do this stems directly from the feedback given to us by you, the KICentral Universe, in telling us directly what keeps so many of you coming back day after day and sharing each of your unique thoughts, experiences and opinions with the staff and the rest of the community. As we move forward, an idea that was given to us time and time again by many of you was the notion of a e-mail newsletter. Some of you that have been around since the beginning may remember that KICentral had a newsletter many years ago which was discontinued. It was discontinued because the entire notion was obsolete. In a day and age where KICentral can be updated in a matter of seconds and hundreds of members are instantly alerted via text message that something is happening on KICentral or at Kings Island, the very thought of using a newsletter to keep people informed of news is an atrocity. The only way that we can create a newsletter that's relevant to our core product is to entirely reinvent and repackage the entire concept of what you would call a newsletter. The driving force behind this new concept will be you, the KICentral Universe. It's inarguable that the KICentral community consist of some of the most knowledgeable individuals on the subjects of Kings Island as well as the theme park industry in general. We are consistently blown away by your knowledge and insights that you share with us, and we will be actively seeking contributions to the newsletter from the KICentral members, as well as pitching story ideas for KICentral community members to write. This will be with the intention of augmenting the information on the KICentral forums, not attempting to withhold any news or updates. In addition to the user created content, the newsletter will also feature monthly articles by Don Helbig and Bill Mefford. As many of you know, Don is the Public Realtions Area Manger at Kings Island. He's always been a supporter of KICentral and will utilize this as an opportunity to directly address the KICentral Universe. Bill Mefford has more experience in this industry than most people would even dare to guess. From being a member of the marketing team at Kings Island for over two decades, to running PR for EnterTRAINment Junction and Wake Nation, to working for Universal Studios in Florida, to helping to open the Hard Rock Park and Wonderland Sydney... the list can go on forever. Bill will be sharing some of his thoughts and insights about the industry as well as keeping us updated on his current ventures. Like anything on KICentral, the KICentral Monthly Newsletter will be 100% FREE. We will not sell, share, expose or post your personal information and/or e-mail addresses. This is an opt-in/opt-out newsletter, so you will not get a newsletter unless you choose to, and you can choose to no longer receive it at any time. The newsletter will always be evolving based on your feedback, so please do not hesitated to share with us what you do and do not like about the concept as well as the actual newsletter when it debuts shortly. You will have the ability to sign up for the KICentral newsletter right here on KICentral at a later time. Best regards, Ryan

Drained splashdown... If it's the trail of rocks running down the side of the screen near Rivertown Junction then I think that's actually going to be an artificial stream running into the splashdown area. There are more rocks that are under the track before it enters the splashdown, which are there for scenery.

From the Diamondback blog today:

...and now more photos from our ongoing lecture series entitled, "The Stuff that Don Sent Me"

Absolutely. Have her take the pass to the park after it opens and she can upgrade by paying the difference. Please note that she may not necessarily be able to do this during the extra season pass processing days beginning April 1st.

Where have you been???

In case you guys didn't get to see a cable wakeboarding video from my original Wake Nation post...

I agree! I think the prices are very fair. How would you guys feel about a KIC construction tour of Wake Nation sometime before Kings Island opens?

New Wake Nation Water-Sports Complex To Open In Cincinnati This Spring Wakeboarding Is Nation’s Hottest New Water Sport… But Where The Heck’s The Boat?? (Cincinnati, OH) --Now for something completely different…water skiing and wakeboarding…WITHOUT A BOAT! The region’s newest and most unusual water recreation venue -- Wake Nation Cincinnati -- is a fun and challenging watersports’ complex designed for wakeboarding as well as wakeskating, water skiing and knee boarding. Wake Nation Cincinnati is located in Joyce Park in Fairfield, and is targeted for a soft opening May 1 and a Grand Opening celebration June 2. It will open daily at 10 a.m. and close at dark all summer long through October. “Wakeboarding is America’s fastest growing water sport,” says Wake Nation owner Peter Kennedy. “Wakeboarding is essentially a combination of water skiing and snowboarding. Wakeboarders ride on a board slightly larger than the size of a snowboard and ride on top of the water at speeds of 18-20 miles per hour.” What makes the water experience of Wake Nation so unique is that riders are pulled around a huge lake not by a motorboat, but by a high tech “cable-pulley” system developed by Rixen in Germany. “Riders can hit the water in a whole new way,” adds Kennedy. There are six towers rising 30 feet over the water with a circulating cable system that tows wakeboarders, skiers, or kneeboarders at the same time. Gone are motorboats’ whining sounds and polluting exhaust as riders are pulled over silky smooth water, around Wake Nation’s man-made lake, which covers 12 acres, including a three-acre grassy island right in the middle of it. Wake Nation Cincinnati is the only wakeboarding cable park in the Midwest, the next closest one being more than 600 miles away, in Kansas City. There are only six other cable waterparks in the entire U.S., most of them in Florida and Texas. Cable wakeboarding is an exciting sport that appeals to all ages. Beginners love that wakeboarding is fun, easy to learn, and allows riders to progress in their skill level at their own pace. Most riders learn how to successfully get up and stay up on their board within their first hour. Experienced wakeboarders like that they can amp up the adrenaline by launching themselves into the air by challenging the various man-made jumps and obstacles (floating sliders, grind rails, table tops and kickers) located in the lake. In addition to wakeboarding and water skiing, riders can slalom, trick ski, kneeboard and wakeskate. Lessons are available for beginners as well as for experienced riders looking to learn new jumps, tricks and moves. The Wake Nation site includes a pro shop, locker rooms and a full concession stand. The pro shop carries all necessary rental equipment (including wet suits), plus the latest in wakeboards, wakeskates, bindings, life vests and clothing. “Wake nation will have everything you need on site, so the only thing you need to bring is your bathing suit,” says Kennedy. Cable passes will be available in one hour ($20), two hour ($25), four hour ($30) and all-day ($35) increments. There will also be a season-long annual pass available. Special discount tickets are available for groups, including youth groups, birthday parties and corporate events. Parking is FREE. Wake Nation
 is located at 201 Joe Nuxhall Way (formerly called Forest Lake Lane) in 
Fairfield. For more information, call (513) 887-WAKE
 or email info@wakenation.com. Website: www.wakenation.com.

The Beast entrance is certainly going to look new, improved and spruced up. Unfortunately there are some things you'll just have to wait until opening day to see.

Yes video is gone for my own personal reasons. No I was not told to take it off, I just think it was the right thing to do. Sorry if anything I did effected this "crash". Removing your video had nothing to do with the server problem.

Absolutely incredible! You get an A+ and FIFTY GOLD STARS!!!!

Why would they change the name of the theatre? Nick is here to stay, until it's gone, then they'll change the name of the theatre. For now it's Nick, so it's not worth worrying about yet.

Excellent info. Thanks for sharing.