teenageninja

I'm not sure how accurate that $20 million number is, but if it is indeed true, Kings Islands spent $40M on two attractions that lasted a total of 17 seasons (9 for The Crypt and 8 for Son of Beast (that's a generous number as well.) Paramount spent a lot of money in the late 90's to early 00's, but look what they got in return, as mentioned above: Action Theater... gone for the most part. Son of Beast: terrible layout, overall ride, etc... gone. Tomb Raider: excellent addition, de-themed- now gone. Scooby's Ghost Coaster: gone. Italian Job: meh addition. still there- special effects never tended to. Spent a bunch of money on things that never worked right, the "drifting effect" and the "Jackhammering" down the steps. Instead of stupid gimmicks they could have built a better ride. Scooby Doo and Haunted Mansion: still exists- but far inferior to ride it replaced, guns rarely work correctly. They had some successes: Nick Universe Waterworks/Boomerang Bay Delirium Drop Zone Flight of Fear Invertigo - Low capacity. I imagine if you compare what Cedar Point invested in the time that Paramount owned the park, Cedar Point would be far beyond Kings Island.

As an additional note, I don't see any way it could have run any slower. There are no trim brakes. The only difference I could imagine is the MCBR slowing the ride down a little more, but that wouldn't impact the majority of the ride.

It was another short sighted decision by Paramount, who continued to invest at a rate at about 1/4 of what Cedar Point was doing. They spent a bunch of money on crap that never worked and ended up getting a very mediocre ride in return.

I think everyone should just wrap themselves in bubble wrap and wear helmets on the rides instead.

I think there is a distinct difference in 10PM on a weeknight and running past midnight. But, yes, you live next to an amusement park, it's going to make noise. That was a choice you made when you bought the house.

It's a weekday thing. This has happened in the past for employee ride nights.

Impossible to predict the crowds. Fast Lane lines, I've heard, can still be up to 15 or 20 minutes, but that'll be with ride lines being in the hour+ range. I would pick a Sunday over Saturday, if possible. Weekdays are the least crowded. Wife and I rode about all the coasters in the park last night and WindSeeker in about 3.5 hours. I would always suggest doing Firehawk and FoF first.

@malem thanks for the heads up. I would have completely forgotten.

And it's something they'll never be able to prove. 99% of people that visit the park just leave their phone, keys, and wallet in their pockets, unsecured. From the 2017 Guest Assistance Guide: "Loose articles including cell phones, pagers, hats, cameras, stuffed animals, purses, backpacks, umbrellas, beverage containers, personal entertainment devices, etc. Items must be safely secured in cargo pockets, a waist pack, in a bin on the ride platform, left in a locker, or with a non-rider." Funny they mention waist pack, because a lot of people have mentioned that they've been asked to remove theirs.

The playtime comments are getting old Ryan.

They have attendants in the locker areas.

Universal Studios Florida offers free lockers in a couple spots. Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit requires the use of a locker. There is an amount of "Free" time based on the current wait plus a cushion. After that, it charges.

It's called Fear of Missing Out or FOMO.

I'm not saying that things like this don't happen. There are a lot of things to watch in the station and if it's hard to get an idea of if they are tall enough from a glance or scan. Spieling probably doesn't help the cause, but I'm not sure it's the biggest reason for things like this happening. More often than not, in these situations, they are very close to the height. Staff rotates, one person has a different eye and catches the kid who shouldn't have been riding. Not to mention you get people who sit at greeter and screw around, people who don't care. It's not a great situation to be in, and they have reason to be upset. What I was trying to get at, though, is that a majority of the people who are upset that their children can't ride things whine and complain "I spent all this money and my kid isn't tall enough to ride x,y,z." My brother in law is a prime example, he tried to sneak his daughter on Diamondback even though she was about 2.5" too short. People ignore the rules. People stuff their kids shoes with paper towels, they tell their kids to step on their tippy toes. Hell, in your FoF example, the woman should have parented better. There was a failure on the ride ops as well. You also see things like parents ripping their children's wrist band off and trying to get them on a ride that they are close to being able to ride. Kids ripping the wrist bands off themselves, because they are irritating to their skin, etc. People who refuse to let their kids be wrist banded. It's a combination of factors and not necessarily limited to one or the other. There isn't a good solution except height checking every single person, which we know isn't going to happen.

It's all about ignorance. Most people don't do their research and show up to the park surprised that their 47" tall child can't ride a lot of the bigger rides.

On CNC equipment and the tractors my company makes the E-Stop doesn't kill the power to the machine. It prevents the controller from operating. So I don't think your statement is 100% correct. I don't 100% recall what the function of the E Stop on Dodgems is. However, on Dodgems the operator leaves the booth to check seat belts on the cars. What is preventing someone from turning the ride on while they are out doing it? That would be what the Lock Out/ Tag Out would be for, to prevent someone from starting the ride while they are gone, however, most people at Kings Island aren't LOTO trained, so that point is irrelevant.

I totally agree 100%. 2008 was a disaster. They hired them way too late, quality was down, promised them a ton of hours.

I'm not sure what you are getting at, and I understand your background. I've also been trained on Lock Out/Tag Out at numerous jobs. By removing the key and hitting the emergency stop, you aren't completely isolating the energy. Let's use an extreme example. Someone leaves the key on the table, while they are walking around the floor, barefoot, someone starts the ride while they are touching one of the metal posts around the outside of the ride, zap. If the ceiling is the ungrounded side, they would have to jump and touch the ceiling while being grounded. Hence my statement. The argument I am making, is that the floor is the GROUND and the grid on the ceiling is electrified. Yes I understand with it being DC, it could work either way.

I just hope they do better in hiring International Workers than they have in the past if this happens. We had a huge problem in Park Services with International workers in 2008.

Wildlife Canyon was in dire need of replacement. We rarely went down there when we go to the zoo. Beer garden and Kangaroos? Sign me up.

I'm well aware of the loading and unloading procedure, I've ran the ride. It also isn't isolating the power source. I think you are wrong, but unless we can get someone with a source it's all conjecture.

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Are you sure? I thought that the ceiling was positive and the floor was negative. Seems like a huge safety issue if something went wrong and someone steps on a floor that should have been shut off. Also, wouldn't you need to lock out and tag out to load and unload?

Right, and it's all over the fact that someone said above how they thought it was silly that all those people ran right for Steel Vengeance. If you run there, and get there first, you are likely going to have a shorter wait. It's a pretty simple equation to understand. I think a lot of people over estimate how much research the overall GP does before visiting.

He's trying to say that they didn't know for a fact that it would be an hour wait later.