PREMiERdrum

... I'd agree with them. BLSC's "splashdown" never really impressed me, especially compared to the caliber of effects throughout the rest of the ride. I can't imagine how weak it would look across the midway from DB's. One effect I thought of that would be cool to add to BLSC, though, would be a timed truck horn and 2 bright lights inside the tunnel. You make the turn to head through the "burst through" hole but hear a very, very loud truck horn and see "headlights" coming at you. That would be a fun way to spice up the usually dark tunnel! (admittedly, this effect borrows from a similar idea at EPCOT's Test Track - just to be fair)

I bet you KD's wasn't turned off!

Interesting that Kinzel's seat likely won't be challenged, unless maybe a deal is brewing to allow him to stay on the board if he retires from the top spot?

Absolutely. The notion that the look of the train "has nothing to do with the ride" is true. It's true of fog. It's true of synchronized soundtracks. It's true of water effects. It's true of pre-shows. It's true of lighting. But what I love Kings Island for isn't the individual rides, but the individual experiences. There's no denying that Tomb Raider was an experience. Italian Job was an experience. Even Drop Zone, to an extent, was an experience - the speil about being filmed for a movie stunt, the target painted on the queue house, the "flames" on the torches. It's the experience that's so damaged when the special effects and little details are lost. Again, look at Disney, or Universal - parks that are literally built on "little details." The "unnecessaries" are what sets Disney and Universal apart. Love Paramount or hate them, you must admit that they always added "unnecessaries" that added to the experience. For the difference between a ride with "unnecessaries" and one without, see Tomb Raider -> The Crypt. See Italian Job -> Backlot Stunt Coaster. Truth be told, if you had to chose one, nearly all of us would chose the former every single time. I have said, and will continue to say, that I would take the on-its-last-leg Tomb Raider over our current Crypt any day of the week. Because on that ride, there was pulse-pounding music, the goddess' eyes lit up, the wall panels immersed you in the "temple," the water fountains worked. Even once the lasers and effect lights had burned out, there was still a feeling of intention. It was still clear that this ride was unique and different. Today, the ride is literally a top spin in a box. There's no attempt and no intention (not even a feeble one) to disguise that. I agree 100%, I just think that we're being much too general when we say "Cedar Fair ruined The Crypt" or "Cedar Fair sucks at themeing." I was trying to get across that the individual parks are responsible for maintaining the effects. CF Planning and Design has overseen the installation of Thunderhawk (WoF) which has synchronized water jets, Firefall (CGA) with water and fire effects, and also "allowed" KD to keep their TR:TR pretty much intact when transitioning to The Crypt. They've also been better than Paramount ever was at matching new attractions to the areas they're in (Firehawk, Diamondback - although I really don't like what they've done with the Intimidators). I would love for the effects to all be fixed, I really would. I'm only arguing that these cuts are likely coming from the park level, not from Sandusky. CW's BLSC fire effects are all not working. Why would that be? I would guess that 1. they were not properly maintained and are broken, or 2. the operation of these effects were deemed "too expensive" by park management and they were turned off. Meanwhile, 2 of KI's 3 are working, the fire effects on The Crypt at KD are working, the fire effects on Firefall at CGA are working, etc... Do you see why I don't believe this is a company-wide issue?

The white one would be Raging Wold Bobs, near the Intamin-built Grizzly River Rapids.

Emphasis added. One might argue that, while Cedar Point or Dorney Park are undoubtedly "dressed-up carnivals", parks like Kings Dominion, Knott's Berry Farm, Canada's Wonderland, and even Kings Island are far from it. Has his tune changed since the Paramount Parks acquisition? One might look at particular and nonspecific actions undertaken by the Company as of late and say, "no." It was shocking to me to read that. Perhaps I'm making more of it than I ought to. But to hear what so many of us have always thought come straight from the mouth of the Man himself - it's almost like foreshadowing. Again, emphasis added. One might argue that Cedar Fair continues to use the idea of "coasters" as their theme. Even in the Paramount Parks, there's clearly a phasing out of intentional theme going on - the negligibles (MINI liscence, lights, water, music, fog, pre-shows) are all removed without even an attempt at replacement. Not even a generic replacement. Just plain old removal. It seems this is no coincidence, and has been Mr. Kinzel's intention for quite some time. I imagine most people have read the article, but if you haven't you really ought to. Recall that it was from a time when Cedar Fair still saw the Paramount Parks and their theme-rich, family-sized rides as apples to their oranges. Note, too, that this article also states Mr. Kinzel's intentions to leave the Company in January 2008. For those who don't know, it's nearly May 2010... One can only wonder what his plans are today and perhaps more importantly, if his successor will share his view of our park being a "dressed-up carnival." Feels good, doesn't it? To know we have such an innovator at the helm? As always, food for thought, and nothing more. Now, it's pretty obvious around here that I'm not a Kinzel fan, by any stretch of the imagination. However, I'll totally agree with him here. Even the best parks (with one exception I can think of [more on that later]) are dressed up carnivals. Carnivals were (and to a lesser extent, are) successful because of the sense of escape and wonder they offer. As other forms of entertainment developed and grew (movies, radio, television), these attractions had to become bigger, better, and more elaborate in order to attract their customers away from the cinemas and televisions. What Walt Disney did was build a carnival that was up to his standards, that's all. At its core, it was still just a carnival. Even now, Disney uses off the shelf carnival ride systems in their attractions, albeit "dressed up" (sound familiar?). There's nothing wrong with a park being a dressed up carnival, and it certainly doesn't mean things cant have a theme/story. The themeing is simply the dressing. The only exception to this that I can think of is Epcot, which I think was the last truly visionary themed experience. As far as the expiration of the Mini/BMW license, I don't think we could have expected anything different. Is it worth paying them just so that the trains can look like their cars? That's essentially paying BMW so that the park ca advertise their vehicles for them. I'm honestly surprised that they were allowed to keep the train shells at all, since they're still quite obviously supposed to be Mini Coopers. I think that this is why we won't see any sort of headlight stickers be applied to the front. I'm sure that BMW had to approve the removal of the Mini "look", and I think we should consider ourselves lucky that the park didn't have to rebody the trains all together, as that would have taken substantial capital from other projects. It looks like the park got things just generic enough to satisfy BMW while still being able to keep the original trains. And as for "CF" taking the theme out of TR:TR/The Crypt, I wouldn't place the blame on corporate as much as I would management at the park level. If it were a CF mandate to tear out all the TR:TR themeing, we would have seen the same thing at KD. If it were a CF mandate that the effects weren't important, we wouldn't still see them at KD, nor would we see a strikingly similar installation (with working effects!) at CGA in Firefall. I would venture to guess that the new names and logos were handed down from corporate, and the parks were responsible for changes to the rides themselves. KI obviously went much, much farther than KD did with the strip job, but it doesn't appear that corporate had a problem with the way either one was done. We have to remember that once a ride is built and opened, the operations and maintenance of that ride becomes the responsibility of the park, not corporate. If an effect breaks, capital from the parks budget is what would be used to fix it. This used to be a huge problem for the Busch parks, as corporate would build the ride, but not supply enough in the maintenance budget to keep the effects up. Journey to Atlantis at SWO has been the biggest example of this problem but there are many, many more. Let's not forget that TR:TR was in pretty sorry shape effects-wise before CF got the park. I'm sure that, even today, the effects could be repaired and a new show designed around the current ride cycle. I'm also sure that there are some who work for the park who would love to see that happen. By doing that, though, you're going to take capital that could go to other, more "important" projects (not that working effects aren't important, but I totally understand the park's prioritization of late). As rides become more and more advanced, this problem will likely become more pronounced. Shoot, even Disney is in a similar situation right now with AK's Expedition:Everest. The yeti, which was heralded as the most advanced AA ever produced, hasn't worked correctly for 3 years. That's right. The "star" attraction at the newest park on property hasn't coughed up the cash to fix the yeti in 3 years. Why? Because doing so would take away most (if not all) of the maintenance budget and they've decided it's not worth letting the rest of the park suffer so that 1 ride can work right. As an armchair imangineer and park fan, does it suck? Sure it does! I hate knowing what the ride is supposed to look like with all the effects working (steam coming from the trains, all 3 waterfalls, snow at the peak of the mountain, the bird at the broken tracks, and the Yeti's "A" mode) and then seeing how it operates today. Do I hope effects at KI get fixed? Absolutely. Do I understand if they deem other projects more important? Yes.

Hope they don't get pulled over!

Oops, I meant "paths" as in a wiring directional, but you're right, the show should be a bit simpler to set up being that it's in a less traveled area in the park.

Ah yes, I saw that too, but I was told it was a control/electrical issue. Their control/pack distribution was pretty screwey. Hopefully KI's is a bit more straighforward, which would prevent "lost" paths like CP was experiencing.

If the lights are the same ones that CP used, which I have no reason to doubt they will be, they are all closed circuit LED strands, meaning if 1, 2, or 40 LEDs in the set go out, the rest stay lit. Also, LEDs have a much higher life expectancy than traditional bulbs, so it would take quite a while before units start to go.

That is the main problem with the Starlight shows, the look during the day. I found the "look" of the Frontier Trail last year during the day to be just fine, the lights were hardly visible unless you were looking for them. As far as the tower's concerned, I doubt the look is ruined. If Disney can get away with draping their castles with light netting every winter (which is painfully obvious from Main St, USA), the lights on the tower shouldn't be a big deal.

I think that there was supposed to be a subwoofer under the seats that would "rattle" for the stair effect... I think that it was installed, but I don't think that it was operational for more than a few days. I have talked to people who "think" they rode with it working, but the effect wasn't pronounced enough to really tell.

Does anyone else get the feeling that they're having trouble not only coming up with a tagline, but with a core demographic? The Where Else thing never really caught on. Ride On seems to be the new thing for teens. But change the channel and you hear "The Fun and Only!" with kids bopping around and dancing... I understand that there's not a real good way to target both groups, but at what point is there a completely different, completely unrelated commercial for every single age group? "Kings Island! The rides are too fast for someone my age - So I just ride the train!" Someone put that to a melody and I'll be impressed. Or, it's totally intentional, using the "Ride On" tagline to market to teens / young adults, and the "FUN and Only" tagline to market to families. Look at it like this: When Ford wants to sell a car, let's say a Fusion, they tag the comemrical with their "Drive One" tagline. When they want to sell a Truck or SUV (for the sake of the argument we'll say an F150), they tag the ad with their "Built Ford Tough" tagline. That's 2 completely different slogans being used to push products from the same company. Now, let's equate those 2 different models / products (Fusion vs. F150) with two different "products" sold by Kings Island: Family Fun and Thrills. The two products in both cases appeal to 2 totally different groups of people (Fusion buyers vs. F150 buyers, those seeking "family fun" vs those seeking "thrills"). It makes perfect sense to market things this way. In order to effectively market something, you need to completely understand exactly what you're selling. Kings Island doesn't just sell one product, they sell several different experiences. And they're both way better than "Where Else?"

With CP's system, they have the ability to use the LEDs on the roof of the FT tunnel as a "screen" they can use to create shapes and words. They didn't use it this way last year (probably because the associated programming is very involved) but the capacity is there. Could you imagine having the face of the tower covered with a matrix like this? They could do image and word generation the whole height of the tower... tie it into the Fireworks shows... Holy crap. KI's done this... sort of. In 2007's Nights of Fire display, the tower had moving stars projected on it. I haven't seen it since so I assume that this was rented equipment, but at least we know it's do-able. http://www.youtube.com/user/KICentral?blend=2&ob=1#p/u/21/FddkBpRtZlE You can see it very briefly right before the 2:00 mark. You can also see the tower going absolutely nuts at the end of the video, which I think was also from a different lighting package than we've had in the past few years. I remember that well... While projections onto the tower looked cool, having the imagines originate from the tower would look incredible. I've seen it done (on a much smaller scale) and this method, if they ever did it, would blow you away. The lumination of the LEDs causes the background (in this case - the tower) to become invisible to the eye, so these giant images are just suspended in space. Such an awesome effect.

With CP's system, they have the ability to use the LEDs on the roof of the FT tunnel as a "screen" they can use to create shapes and words. They didn't use it this way last year (probably because the associated programming is very involved) but the capacity is there. Could you imagine having the face of the tower covered with a matrix like this? They could do image and word generation the whole height of the tower... tie it into the Fireworks shows... Holy crap.

I believe the train in your picture is Monorail Coral. The Coral train has a white Delta in the middle of each car. This is monorail pink:

So as not to take attention away from their major investment: Planet Snoopy. As far as the maps, I'm sure it will be on the map once it's announced (they don't print the whole season's worth right at the beginning, methinks). I'm excited to see how the show turns out. CP's was truly awe-inspiring, but I hope KI ditches the show-scene design concept in their version. The areas around the tower are beautiful, and just having the LEDs "dance" to a nice soundtrack would be great. If they were going to go with different scenes, I'm not sure how accessible that area is to have the floats brought in? CP closes the Frontier Trail for an hour (it is an hour, right?) before the show to move the floats in from an offstage area. There aren't any backstage access gates close to the tower, as far as I know, so I'm not sure how they'd manage that.

Not to split hairs, but I think it's supposed to look like he's on a tube floating in a tub, not in a crate

I bet they are for Aquatica... I doubt that they'd TM this project in their real name (most operators have "outside" names they use to hold Trademarks to protect secrecy). That, and I can't see them using an Austrailian theme, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the park. I'd say that the popular "Cheetah"-themed rumor is likely correct here.

You, sir, just earned yourself 10 points from me for a stellar "Vacation" reference. Nice job.

The distance between the two points could come into play as well... Jeff's experience comes from a coast-to-coast relocation (2,500 miles or so), while Dick's experiences have been relatively short trips (Firehawk 250 miles, Thunderhawk: 347 miles, Dominator: 422 miles, Carolina Cobra 436 miles).

And Uncle Dick has been quoted as saying that it costs "about fifty cents on the dollar" to move and reconstruct a steel coaster, so once the auction purchase price is figured in, it might not be that much of a deal.

Well, it is the same set as least year, with the TVs added and a new drop. When I first saw this, I wondered if there would be a 2nd show in the Festhaus (like last year) maybe to debut later in the season? A 2nd roll-down drop and a different graphic on the screens is all it would take to make a "different" set. Well Down Home Country is set to start in Festhaus later in the year. So they pretty much had to keep the set for DHC, because for a couple months they overlap. Where they could be doing Way Too Much TV one day, and Down Home Country the next, so they have to keep the set the same. Just as I suspected. The set looks great and should work for both shows. I'd rather have one nice looking, permanent set than two cheap looking rollaways.

Well, it is the same set as least year, with the TVs added and a new drop. When I first saw this, I wondered if there would be a 2nd show in the Festhaus (like last year) maybe to debut later in the season? A 2nd roll-down drop and a different graphic on the screens is all it would take to make a "different" set.

That's a really cool & interesting idea... I know this sounds lame & way oversimplified (we could do better than this) but imagine taking something clear (plastic wrap...) and just stretching it across the lava pools, then projecting a water pattern... Again, that may be expensive but it would be an incredible effect. The simpler the effect = the better the operation. A few layers of R100 diffusion stretched over the pool and 4 H2O projectors would look great.