PKIDelirium

Most of the smoking areas were fairly small, so no proper distancing possible, and you can't smoke with a mask on. Exhaled smoke could also carry virus particulates and cause them to linger in the air more than usual. Tower Gardens was the only large area for smoking, and it's currently being used as the "RelaxZone" area where you can take your mask off. The area over by Invertigo outside the front gate is the designated smoking area for this year, and they're using re-scan rather than hand stamps as part of the COVID precautions, so I'm not sure what's wrong with just having that area for now considering the situation.

That's by the Field of Screams haunt. It could either be related to that attraction, or just staging for offseason trackwork on Racer and/or Beast.

Apparently that iceeelectronics seller had multiple people involved. There's a new listing for preordered kits, priced now at $999 and showing as two available and three sold.

The pre order one isn’t showing on eBay anymore, so it either sold or was removed. The auction format one (physical item) remains.

Could just be a chain break or drive motor problem.

The $600 or best offer one has vanished, either sold or taken down, but two more have appeared. One auction with a single bid at the $450 start, and the other is a $499 buy-it-now for a *preordered* kit.

There doesn't seem to be a way to access the AIM username field when editing user profile. I was trying to remove it since AIM is, well, kaput, but it's not visible.

The SoB plaques were also only sold in the offseason and by phone order only, limit one per person. These will actually be in the park for an entire weekend and with two allowed per person, so there's likely going to be people buying two so they can scalp the other one on eBay too.

Should probably blank out the email on that screenshot.

Every photo I've ever seen from even 1972 has five cars per train.

From their post:

Nah, the front gate wing coaster is just a different front gate, the rest will be underneath the parking lot.

I don't see any trucks.

Oh, so NOW you’re down with this all just being infrastructure housekeeping and possible SoB station removal. Got it.

Okay yeah that strip by the RMC has been like that since at least 2005, the "drag race" ride was there. And the dirt field behind the amphitheater has been like that since uh, like forever,

Don't worry guys, they're putting one on Old Columbia Road after burying the power lines.

Burying the utility lines on the old above-ground posts requires excavation. Removing the old utility wiring to the Son of Beast station requires excavation and removal. If they take out the SOB station and ramps while they're at it, that involves demolition... I expect it's nothing more than utility housekeeping, possibly revamping the road for a dorm (and maybe GWL) shuttle, and perhaps taking the SOB station while they're at it.

I... Uh... I can’t post an honest response to that opinion without getting banned, so I’m just gonna step back...

Could also transform Action Zone into being part of Oktoberfest because AZ isn’t really a “theme” and is only that way because of Paramount making it their “backlot” area. BGW’s Oktoberfest section is huge, and existing rides would easily work, just get new names for Drop Tower, Skyflyer, Congo and Invertigo. Obviously there would be a lot of general theme work to do, but it could be done. Landscaping would be a major factor because of Paramount turning Adventure Village into a concrete slab, but again, possible.

Since gforce keeps refusing to identify all the various markings, I found a standard legend.

The photo booth, except for maybe the foundation slab is gone. The only related structure left is the shelter like structure that used to have vending machines in it facing the midway, it was painted to match The Vortex station so it does look kind of like the photo booth from certain angles.

Why now? Maybe scheduling. There’s no Haunt to set up, no more weekday operations, no WinterFest, etc. It could simply be providing them time to do some housekeeping. There’s also now more than a full year to come up with a replacement for Wolf Pack, which is basically the only reason the old Son of Beast station is still there at all.

I recall getting a ticket and attending this with someone on one of the days in 2008. They even had Flashback: Totally 80s still playing. With some assistance in the before-everyone-had-a-smartphone days, I even managed to organize having someone screenshot the Diamondback construction cam while I was standing in a view of it from the Rivertown midway. Gee, if only I could remember who that was...

It looks like they're just tidying up some infrastructure. Those old posts on Columbia Road (both the waterpark side and the side first pictured in this thread) are quite old and honestly kind of ugly. Burying the various utility lines both over there and then on the employee parking lot and Soak City side would make things look nicer than a bunch of old pre-park above ground posts all the way down the front perimeter, and would complete what was started when they buried the ones in the Soak City expansion area and re-routed the road to accommodate said expansion. For the Son of Beast queue area, there's probably still a bunch of old phone lines, electrical, etc back there that originally served Son of Beast itself. Maybe while they're at it they're also just taking out that old infrastructure and cleaning things up. The alleged line from Invertigo's queue area over to Congo could be old abandoned Queue TV lines being removed. Heck, someone mentioned some time back that O'Rourke allegedly had a contract with the park to do something in addition to Vortex, just can't remember where that got posted. Maybe they're finally going to remove the eyesore that is the Son of Beast station? Wouldn't need any of the old power or communication lines leading back there if they're removing it, would they? Or maybe I'm just wrong and they're getting ready to build an Intamin launched single-rail wing-dive strata hybrid that runs the entire span of the front of the park, from Timberwolf to Soak City and back...

Honestly Congo might get some popularity back if they just took out Timberwolf. It's basically never used and takes a ton of perfectly good, mostly flat land. Plenty of room to expand Action Zone out with some more "high thrill" flats and maybe even a lower-budget compact coaster like a Raptor or 4D freespin. Give it a better chance to be an active area instead of a double dead-end and Congo could see a rebound. Comparatively, it doesn't take much space and is mechanically simple.