Cory Butcher

Wow, very nice.

I personally have a Sony Cybershot H3. It takes great photos, and is not quite compact but isn't a brick like those Large DSLR's either. I usually have it in one of those Cybershot padded carrying cases that you can string your belt through. Works great for me, always stays right off to the side, underneath and away from the restraint and on rides like The Beast, it doesnt go against the wall it actually goes right against the opening of the wall. So the camera is attached to me, not in a position to get broken, and I have been able to take quality photos with it. I have yet to bring my extra zoom lenses or sun shield (lens hood) to a park with the camera, so I haven't figured that one out yet. But hey the standard zoom does what I need it too!

It would, I would know i work there. When the train launches usually people are about half unloaded. If there were trains in the waiting brakes capacity would be higher we could bring that train right in. Although I'd rather not have it for obvious reasons. Actually I am pretty sure that just means that you would have a fully loaded train in the brake run before Unload, and a train half unloaded in the unload area. The Train would load and launch, then you would wait to bring in the train that is mostly unloaded, the train sitting in the brake run to unload would move into unload, take about the same time to unload as load, only after Unload is clear to accept a train. Meanwhile, you have that third train steaming towards the finish, and guess what...it just ends up sitting in the waiting brakes full...and stacked. Three trains may have been possible with OTSR's when extra time to buckle belts was not present. But now due to the timing of loading, not gonna happen. Two trains may be under what capacity could be, but three trains would not be able to sustain one in the course and two in load/unload for very long. If it helped capacity more than the additional maintenance costs of more cycles, the park would have made the correction in the last ten years. They haven't.

^Um...have you ever seen another B&M coaster at Kings Island????

And if that were the case, we would have many, many more posts by Interpreter outlining legal claims against the park for Shaken Rider Syndrome, and for Capital expenditures increases year after year to re-track the thing. I have had many rides on The Beast this and last year, and nearly half of them, I have to wonder why I rode in the first place. It has good days and bad days it seems. I would hate to be there on a bad day without trims, thankfully in all probability, they will forever be there! Oh yeah, anyone here actually "like" riding Blue Racer back seat this year?? I am fairly certain Beast would be about like it after a trimless year, though I admittedly have no evidence whatsoever to back that claim up, just my knowledge of the general forces associated with a high speed wooden roller coaster attraction, and the stresses created by that force over time.

I agree with you Railrider. My first thought, was OH! They must think that parking in their concrete parking lot for a year is as fun as a season spent in their park! Whether the pricing works out to be what they really want to charge or not. The advertising/marketing angle just looks horrid on that deal.

Actually discounts to Disney are easier to come by during their "off-season", and most tourists welcome centers in Florida have some real great deals. Ask Avatar, he engages in Disney Discounts. Disney is always looking to package things together to make you spend more, but get more for what you pay for. Disney really has what I think is the best discount available at any park. The longer you stay, the less it costs you per day. If you go to Disney for just one day you pay $75 per day, however if you extend your visit to Ten days, you pay 23.70 a day. Add in AAA discounts, and room rate bundles and dining options, and there are other possibilites as well. Really, in my opinion Disney is shooting themselves in the foot with that pricing. Most people going to Disney are going to go stay for around four days and visit all four parks, and maybe do a park hopper on the fifth day and hit all their favorites. After three days Disney begins their pricing strategy, decreasing the cost per day, in my opinion probably at least a day short. I think most in the industry and those who seasonally attend the Disney themeparks would agree, that Disney could make another $40 dollars a head after that third day if they didnt steadily decrease pricing until day 4, and they wouldn't lose out too much on attendance. Now really, if Disney thought they could do that, who knows maybe they would have already. That is why I think that even three years ago when our economy wasn't so bad off that it speaks volumes that a company like Disney would not institute too much pricing integrity, not after the length of a quick (3 days) vacation stay anyways. WDW, is in the tourist heart of the United States, and yet they only practice pricing integrity (or as I call it Premium Pricing), in the first three days of a visit, when it could be argued that Most Disney visitors will spend four days (or more), and very few, sans locals, will spend less than three. This doesn't even take into account other discounts available to FLA residents and other things. For the experience you have, Disney's admission is discounted even before you clip a coupon. HRP's as I have heard, and theoretically differentiated is not, and the tourism content of its location includes more retirees, couples on honeymoon, those on anniversary, and just less youthful exuberance in general, not exactly the best of markets for a Hard Rock Park!

Actually, if you watch the live webcam you can tell that that cloud, is dynamic in nature and moving, as the little guy down by the splashdown track moves, the cloud moves with him. I think he is either, sawing, pressure washing, or using like a leafblower and blowing away water....not sure though.

^He is referring to that old wooden plank supporting one end of that track piece...

HRP is practicing what industry Leads like to refer to as "Pricing Integrity".

I could not agree more! I absolutely detest that local pizza, both the same kind served in the park and outside of it at the local pizza chains that you refer to. I have trouble eating much at all, the pizza crust is always too flowery as well.

Hmmm, it seems that Mr. T Boone Pickens was right on his assesment as to the price of oil...

You're probably right. I've always wondered if KI enthusiasts would last as long as they do if the park was open year round. This way it's almost like a whole new product when it opens in April, so it's something to look forward to. Additionally, one could say that the park keeps some of its magic by being closed to the public primarily during the times when it's converting to Haunt or building a new attraction. I wonder how Walt Disney World, Busch Gardens Africa, and Disneyland keep their magic and a consistent fan base? (This is rhetorical, I know what you meant, just putting it out there)

So...start planning

That would be awesome! I have a city owned water park right next to my house. It has two big tube slides, a speed slide, a froggy kiddy slide. Volleyball courts and kids play area as well as a very large swimming pool. If they add ATV trails, I may actually use it, Four-wheelers are awesome! throw in some buddies, some good beef jerky and banana chips, and some muddy holes, wow that is the definition of fun!

Kings Island got mentioned! Finally! This is certainly good news, thanks for posting that!

I have been quite busy, and did not realize that you had put up your trip report! I just want to say that it was very nice to meet you and be able to talk to you on the Carousel. (C'mon, the moving horse was definitely worth it ) Hope we meet again in the park sometime. Loved the Trip report by the way!

I voted for all of the above. As far as other goes...Promotional giveaways are something that quite a few of the fansites out there have... Really though, You guys don't really need anything else, I mention the Promo giveaways tongue in cheek! I almost don't see how a newsletter is any different than the front page media release updates on the homepage of this site.

I would like to see more of these theaters turn into the "Cheap seats" or discount theaters, second-run theater, what have you. I guess it just isnt profitable. It used to be that every major theater about to fall to the wrecking ball would be bought by Chakere's or Danbarry or another entity of the same.

At the 8:00 show, after he talked about Pippin, he sang "This is the Moment" from the musical Jekyll & Hyde. I love this song, but I thought it was odd that he did a Jekyll & Hyde song right after talking about Pippin. Click here for the lyrics. THAT'S IT!!! Thank you! Thank You! Thank You!

Avatar, I don't think that is the song still. I remember Barry was talking about auditioning for Pippin and how he had to fly like an eagle and do these arm motions and the producer told him that he did good, "but he was giving him a Cessna, he wanted a 747". After this anecdote, Williams then sang a song about finally getting to the top and getting what he wanted after all of his hardwork. It was something along those lines. And I can't for the life of me come up with three words together in the song to "google" it. I am very sure that he didn't sing Davey Jones or "You've got to be in love" after his anecdote about the arm motions. This was a song about taking hardwork and along the lines of finally making it to the top. I wasn't sure if I liked the vocals, but I loved the lyrics, and meant to write them down in the theater to google it later and realized I didnt have a pen or paper, lol. Now I am paying for it. Thanks for the info Standbyme. Don't worry about the hijack thing, you didn't do anything wrong you just replied to an off-topic post. I have dealt with quite a bit these last two days with family matters, and was a little on the edge, My apologies for the sour comment. I kind of felt it was too early in the thread to go diving into negativity. That has been happening more and more recently. I may have finally found the song I was looking for! It looks to be Corner of the Sky from Pippin. It was also sang by Barry Williams in the Brady Bunch Variety Hour!

Because although, the price of Crude has gone down, the cost of refinement is near an all time high. Also Demand has peaked back up with lower prices. This creates an equilibrium price between the supply and high refinement costs with gasoline overuse due to lowering prices. Remember consumer gasoline price relates to Crude, Refinement, and supply and demand. Crude prices for the most part are controlled by supply and demand, and the cost of drilling. You basically take one of the criterion away from the price adjustment. Not to mention Gasoline price also includes a tax, which varies from time to time, usually directly related to supply and demand. Its more complicated than this...but this is the basic summary, I hope it helps somewhat!

Avatar, I actually have been really busy this past two days, So I have only had time to check my threads on here to check responses. I did just look at your trip report this morning right after I posted that, because I saw that it was a thread written by you...so I knew it would be quality...and it was! Great job on the videos and report! The last song Barry sang was one I was looking for, but there was another song I liked as well in one of the videos that I believe you didn't put up! It was the song he sang right after Barry talked about auditioning for Pippin and getting the part...

That last one I saw was Those were the days..by Queen I believe. It was one of their last songs with Freddie Mercury before he died. Beautiful piece. Thank you! Does anyone else know of any of the others...Avatar, you were watching intently do you remember any of the others towards the end. And, Kavalier, I don't normally say this, it isn't my style....but thanks for hijacking the post.

Well, I had thought I found one of the songs, but, no dice. So I edited this post...Im still looking for the songs so post if you know, thanks!