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The Kings Mill Log Flume opened with the park in 1972. It later became the Wild Thornberries Safariventure before becoming Race For Your Life Much-Too-Long-Of-A-Log-Flume-Name. I cannot imagine that a nearly 45 year old log flume is very "cost effective" to maintain at this point. Personally, I feel like Wing and Giga are the top 2 candidates. But if they build anything other than a Giga, I think the reaction will be, "Why didn't they build a Giga? That would have been a great fit for Kings Island."

7 years have gone by and Kings Island still hasn't figured out that Diamondback should be part of ERT every day. ERT should also definitely be an hour long. Half an hour is much too little considering that it takes a good 5 minutes just to walk to the entrance of Diamondback, Firehawk, Vortex, etc. (And when coaster X opens next year nearby, it should STILL be part of ERT every day.) Give the people what they want! It will make them feel better about the much-too-long wait for Firehawk, Flight of Fear, and Invertigo later in the afternoon. Diamondback is a fantastic ride, and for most coaster-riding guests, the most re-rideable coaster at the park.

So, Cedar Point has released the details on their camp out. it is June 5th and 6th (Sunday and Monday right after Coastermania). The timing is a bit weird, but the benefits seem to trump Kings Island's event. https://www.cedarpoint.com/events/things-to-do/events/Coaster-Campout-7-28-15-00 The Cedar Point event includes admission for both days (vs just 1 day at KI), and an evening meal. It also has ERT on Maverick, Millennium Force, and Valravn. I guess KI's event is more catered towards families with season passes?

"New this year! Campsites will be located behind the Eiffel Tower, near Diamondback." Well, this is an improvement. I think having the flat rides open for ERT is a good family move, but the lack of a marquee attraction for ERT is a negative. Diamondback and Banshee aren't open for the late night or early morning ERT.

For being a promotional photo, those OSTRs look terrible.

Trolls should never hold hands.

I feel like I just found $45 dollars that I lost.

I'm planning on attending, but I will probably not go all 3 days. Since it starts with a Friday night in May, there is a good chance that the entire Friday evening could be unofficial ERT. Better too much ERT than too little though. I have no idea what the story is with the ribs, but I find it hilarious that so many posts have alluded to them. Were both meals last year in the picnic grove? Did said ribs appear at both meals?

World's Greatest Tacos?

I agree the diversity will be a good thing. The only comment I would make is that unless Diamondback can perform better this year, I'd rather have it be on the ERT all the time.

I can't believe they tore down the world's greatest funnel cake shop.

Adding Friday night is a really nice perk. Many people get into town on Friday due to the early ERT on Saturday morning, so doing registration and some stuff on Friday is an awesome idea. I wonder how much it will affect the price. Last year it was $62 for non-passholders. You have to figure it would go up some anyway, but with an extra evening added, I wonder how much.

Yep, it is Rob Decker...and he is the man. Note that if they are looking at blueprints, it seems unlikely that it would deal with the 2016 season unless it is for Haunt. The planning process really never stops from one project to the next.

I recommend riding it at least once to experience it for yourself. However, for me flying coasters are an uncomfortable experience in general. It really doesn't have much to do with the restraints, but more to do with feeling the blood rushing to your head and g-forces on your upper body. The vertical loop on Firehawk feels like it has heavy g-forces, but I think that is because you are feeling it against your chest.

It also makes getting used wheels as souvenirs much harder. I remember being at an event at Holiday World about 10 years ago where they auctioned some for charity. I wish I had bought one. Anyone here have any wheels from KI?

True. It gets really confusing if you consider that they recycle all of the used wheels on the coasters. So Diamondback technically will have new, old wheels.

I'm pretty sure Diamondback gets new wheels every year. The tweet doesn't really specify that the wheels are different than in the past. https://twitter.com/KingsIslandPR/status/676506446352265217

Ha! The video said the "world's most comfortable wooden coaster trains"...and yet the model has seat dividers and the orange lapbars. I don't think so, PTC.

A couple other factors might be that KI has a lot of season pass holders and is only a seasonal amusement park. I'm sure a lot of thought is put into how to keep the pass holders happy. Kings Island's 40th anniversary was in 2012. What was new that season? A water park expansion. Among the additions last year were a huge Starbucks and a petting zoo. Those are not the kind of additions that get huge press, but they keep the locals happy.

Wouldn't it be more likely to have a train pause on the lift for the MCBR to clear instead? The day the crew is having that problem is a good day.

Yeah I figure the original RCDB source (which Wikipedia is using) is probably the original ride documentation/specification. I don't understand the differences in the early Premier "spaghetti bowl" models and the later ones (Poltergeist, Joker's Jinx, another in China). The later models don't even have a mid-course brake, so they are technically designed for less trains. So is the excess speed hurting those rides? I also find it funny that Banshee is likely operating with an hourly capacity which is equal to Flight of Fear and Firehawk combined. Maybe that is a bit of a stretch, but it certainly feels that way sometimes.

I just stumbled upon Flight of Fear's Wikipedia page where it claims the capacity is 2000 riders per hour.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_Fear HAHAHA. I would imagine 2000 was the theoretical capacity for the ride running 4 trains. I believe it only ever ran with 3, and now it runs with only 2, I think. I would be stunned if it does more than 800 people per hour.

The year Kings Island adds a gigacoaster will be the year it goes up $10-$15.

It could be worse. Cedar Point's season pass is now $126...and that doesn't include perks that are included with the gold pass like ERT.

I loved the first tweet about "something from 1972", but this one makes it too obvious that Racer is not going anywhere. https://twitter.com/KICentral/status/633766061834379268 Assuming the 1972 portion is still accurate, it's still a bit sad. I can't think of anything original to the park which I would think is past its time. Then again, I don't get to see the maintenance budget.