BoddaH1994

I think Holiday World is perfectly capable of pulling off such an expansion. Keep in mind one thing, using the terrain is certainly going to cut down the cost of the ride. Secondly, there is always the option to use steel structure on parts of the ride. That greatly reduces their cost in the beginning and in the long run on upkeep. I think most of you don't quite take that little park quite seriously enough. I'm not saying they are building the new world's longest woodie, blah blah blah, just saying that they are definitely able to make such an expansion. I definitely agree about not building anything taller than Son of Beast. Sheesh, like you said, what a mistake. Perhaps we'll get lucky and it'll burn down? :-) On the other hand, I have heard many positive things about Colossus at Heide Park. Its not too much shorter than Son of Beast, only about 20 feet. Its made it through several seasons, 4 I think, and all reports say its still glass smooth. I think if Intamin's plug-n-play technology works on that ride, then something taller may not turn out to be a bad thing at all. As for Six Flags and stupid investments......I guess I understand them. I'm still not sure why Kingda Ka was chosen, given the reliability of all the other rocket coasters. However, I understand the reason they did it. A new, record breaking, attention grabbing ride at the flagship park. Keep pumping money and attention into the Parks that are actually making the money. I think I would have went with something different if I were them, but the reasoning behind it does make sense. I certainly wish them the best of luck in attempting to turn things around. - Todd Once again, Todd tells it like it is. I agree that HW is commonly underestimated. Would they be able to build a coaster that's longer than The Beast? Sure. My point is that it probably wouldn't be a very lofty investment. Was Son of Beast a mistake? That's really hard to give a blanket answer to. I know of a lot of people who absolutely love the ride, but on the other hand, if you ever get into a conversation about PKI with someone who's not a regular, how often do they mention how uncomfortable the ride is? Pretty often in my book. I guess the tiebreaker is the countless hours of unnecessary maintanance and millions of post-completion dollars put into it. As Todd stated above, it's hard to imagine what else could have been done with that money. Burn it down? Nah... last year when I was in line for The Beast, some old guy told me this long-winded story about how it was made of a certain type of wood which will rot into nothingness within 2 or 3 years... then again, you know old people... they know everything. Oh, and while we're on the subject of rotting away, let's talk about Six Flags. Yeah, Kingda Ka looks cool, but I think it was a terrible investment. A couple of years ago when CP built TTD, people were jumping over eachother to see this mysterious giant. Now, two years later, and less than 20ft higher, people still seem to think that if you've ridden TTD, you've ridden Kingda Ka. I suppose building an only slightly taller coaster than the tallest one in the world, and making it a clone is kind of like buying a Toyota Landrover... you might as well just buy a Chevy Blazer and tape $20,000 to the bottom of your hood, because that's what you just did. Ryan

They've closed the park to the general public on an early weekend day for years now. It's always important to check the schedule, but I can see why a lot of the GP would assume that it would be open.

So why even mention it? It's also likely that you make yourself see Winterfest stuff. I mean, what could they possibly have put up this early?

Just think -- if all of the themeing worked liked it should, it would easily be the best themed season park out there.

I'm talking about all of the retracking, work, lawsuits, etc etc etc that have been a result of that ride. I don't think that the idea was bad, but I think that we now know the limits of a wood coaster, and if they try to break it, they have the same, if not worse, problems.

I disagree about the Holiday World thing. Taking into account the cost of construction in the amusement industry today, there's no way they'd make their money back on it quickly enough for it not to hurt. Clearly the industry isn't looking for record breakers anymore, which is why PKI, with very few records left on the books, is the highest attended and highest rated seasonal theme park in the world. I wish the best of luck to any other park that would like to break our records, but I still have my doubts. I don't think that people come to ride The Beast because it's the longest in the world, but rather because of the reputation that it has developed over the past 26 years of being an awesome ride. On the other hand, it goes to show what monkeys are running Six Flags if they want to recreate our mistakes by building hyper-woodies. Ryan

My little brother's trashy friend's dad attempted to sue the park several years after an incident in which he slipped and fell on Wild Thornberry's. He claimed that he had some sort of long-term injury as a result of it. I think that lawsuits are his main source of income. Poeple like that should be in prison.

That's what I'm thinking. I mean, law suits are great in all for keeping a fair balance in society, but don't fuel a fire unless you're directly associated. If they call you again and ask questions, don't answer ANYTHING that you think could be misread or used against the park. If they start asking questions, and won't leave you alone, just keep repeating: "All of the rides and attractions at Paramount's Kings Island are safe forms of entertainment so long as the patron reads and follows the Fun & Safety Guides located at the entrance to each ride." That is of course if you are put in a position in which you HAVE to answer questions. Of course, the best thing you can do (which is what I 100% recommend) is to direct them here, where they can contact an offical park spokesperson, although I imagine that Jeff, Maureen, or whoever they talk to, would direct them towards one of their representing attorneys. Let's hope that this is nothing, but prepare for the worst. Although even in a worst case scenario, what you say would likely have a very minimal impact on whatever happens, I feel as though as fans of the park we have a responsibility to be supporters of the industry, rather than reports of it.

We don't know that for certain. Don't read too much into this, but I can see Paramount offering free admission to Winterfest with a 2006 season pass.

I'd leave that to Paramount to figure out. IJ resparked my trust in their themeing department.

I wouldn't recommend calling them back, and would refuse to answer questions. I have a bad feeling that if this is legit, they're trying to get fuel against the park.

The coaster is open now.

You've really got to take I-Street for what it's worth. There really wouldn't be a market for a true international street in the park. My fear would be that a Hollywood makeover would be done poorly and would make a cheesy feel to the park as soon as you walk in. If they were going to do something like this, this is how I would do it: 1. Put in a mock walk of fame down the street. 2. Somehow manage to have the Hollywood Hills sign in the distance. Maybe build up a mound in a vacant area behind or near I-Street that's visible. 3. Have red carpet entrances to some of the locations. Set them up with felt ropes and such so it looks like a Hollywood premier. Just stuff like that... if done correctly, it could make very a VERY interesting experience, if done poorly, it could be the biggest desperate attempt to make a theme park look like Disney World... it's your call.

Today they weren't doing the fast pass. I don't know if it was because of the low attendance or whatever, but the lady at the information kiosk told me that it was too much of a hassle, so take that for what it's worth. On a side note, when riding it today, I notice that the effects were timed perfectly. I'm not exactly sure what was done, but I was in the 2nd row and could see all of the effects. I'm guessing that they either stopped the train slightly farther back, or waiting a longer time to launch. I think that the warehouse scene is much better than it was now too. A lot of "stuff" seems to go on. Ryan

Right... let's perpetuate PKI's best-kept secret.

I don't know who this guy is, but there's a person who has the license plate "B and M". He's at all of the special events.

Its fine that he asked, if you dont know something you ask a question, its that simple. Im just saying that employees are not allowed to disclose information on here without their job being threatened. Still no excuse to be rude to him. If you're not allowed to answer, just don't answer. It's really just that simple.

Assuming it's going to work how it has the past few weeks, you go under the Eiffel Tower to the information kiosk, flash your gold pass and they give you a little card with a time on it. You take that card to the fast pass line at the appropriate time.

I agree that IJ is better in the dark. I don't know how much mist they were shooting in the tunnel this weekend, but the week it opened, they had so much that you clould clearly see the beams from the headlights. It was awesome.

What can I say Di? We don't like you.

Crispy -- Click here. Let us know how it goes. Ryan

To be honest with you, you couldn't pay me $10,000 to listen to Kiss FM.

If anyone else is having trouble playing the video, PM me and I'll try to figure something out. For some browsers, you have to right click>save as.

I'm pretty sure you can.

Especially for The Beast, I could see them tearing down whole sections and replacing them.